


The Illusion of Peace

by daredeviljr



Category: Daredevil (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Daredevil (TV) Spoilers, Gen, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Hurt Matt Murdock, Matt Murdock is a Good Bro, POV Matt Murdock, POV Peter Parker, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has PTSD, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Canon, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Protective Matt Murdock, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, and i probably did a bad job of writing it, or at least he's trying to be, sorry guys i tried my best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2020-09-06 13:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20292286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daredeviljr/pseuds/daredeviljr
Summary: "Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker!"Six words and Peter's world is turned completely upside down.As much as he always dreaded this day, he had tricked himself into thinking it would never come. Now it wasn't only here, it was coupled with murder charges and the Dailly Bugle out for his head.He will need a lawyer.





	1. Chapter 1

_ "Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker!" _

Peter's whole world shattered around him hearing those words. A tiny part of him was convinced this was another illusion. It had to be, right? There was no way Mysterio had just revealed his identity to the entire world. Beck must have somehow survived, and he was toying with his mind again.

The other part of him, that was too concerned with going full panic mode, managed to blurt out, "Oh, what the  _ fu-- _ "

"Look, there he is!"

"Oi, Spidey! Did you actually kill Mysterio?!"

"Are you really that Parker guy?"

"Take off your mask!"

Peter looked down at the crowd. He tried to find MJ, but the increasing number of people gathering around the lamp post he landed on made it impossible. He did the only smart thing he could think of.

He swinged away.

He didn't have a destination in mind. If anyone saw Spider-Man crawl into Peter Parker's window, it would only make things worse. Same if he went to Ned's. The Avengers compound was completely destroyed and even if that wasn't the case, he couldn't swing all the way upstate. He didn't even know where Happy lived. He had nowhere to go.

Perhaps he deserved it. He had given EDITH to Beck, he gave a supervillain full control of Stark technology, of the killer drones and in the end, even if Mysterio was defeated, he still found a way to remind Peter just how terribly he'd screwed up this time. Mr Stark had trusted him and Peter not only betrayed his trust, but he also put millions of people in danger and managed to get his secret revealed in the process. Classic.

He'd left his backpack on a rooftop near where he picked up MJ, so that's where he decided to go. While he wasn't sure where to go from there, it was better to make sure no one found a backpack with Peter Parker's stuff webbed up somewhere. 

The first thing he pulled out was his phone, only to find it full of missed calls and texts from pretty much everyone he knew. Peter didn't waste much time reading through any of them. He only texted May assuring her that he was okay before turning off his phone. Whatever was about to happen next, Peter couldn't afford to have it tracked. He already had enough problems as it was. 

He was throwing his now useless phone into his backpack when something at the bottom of it caught his eye. A crumpled business card for  _ Nelson, Murdock & Page, attorneys at law _ . Peter remembered exactly who it was from.

He and Daredevil were not particularly close. They had worked together a couple of times at most, they didn't really have the time to talk a whole lot, but last time, right before Peter went on vacation, the vigilante had handed him that business card.

"If you ever need any legal help, those guys can help you out." He explained, after Peter questioned him about it.

He never thought much about the card. Peter wasn't above thinking he'd ever need it, but he never actually thought about it actually happening. But we'll, if there was ever going to be a time when Spider-Man would need legal help, this was surely it.

The office was in Hell's Kitchen, which wasn't a long way away. And, honestly, even if it was far, Peter would end up going anyway. They were his only option. 

He was a lot more careful swinging on his way to Hell's Kitchen than he'd ever been before. After the broadcast, it was a safe bet that a lot of people would be looking around for Spider-Man, and Peter could really avoid that kind of attention right now. He tried swiging higher up, as well as staying out of the line of sight from anyone on the sidewalk. He wasn't sure how much it did help, though, considering all anyone on the ground would see was Spider-Man acting a little suspicious, which wouldn't help his case.

The address on the card led to a butcher shop, which Daredevil had warned him about, but now that he was here, he realized it was actually a problem. He couldn't just land on the ground and walk into a butcher shop in the current state of things. He tried the back alley— according to Daredevil, the actual office was on the back anyway, and the less interaction he had with anyone he didn't have to, the better.

He was about to try opening the backdoor when someone else opened it. Peter jumped back as a man emerged from the door. He was just as startled as Peter was, which was understandable considering no one would expect to find Spider-Man in their back alley while they took out the trash.

"Oh. You here for Foggy and Matt?" He asked. Peter had no idea of who either of those people were, so he didn't respond. "Nelson and Murdock?" The man tried again.

Peter nodded. "Y-Yeah." He cleared his throat. He couldn't sound like a scared teenager right now. "Yeah, I'm looking for them. Are they in?"

"Yeah! Right through that door, then it's the first one through your right." He replied, stepping out the door. "I don't think they have anyone in right now, so you should be fine."

Peter nodded again before walking in, hoping the guy wouldn't just call the cops the second he turned his back to him.

For operating at the back of a butcher shop, the office wasn't that bad. There was a nice enough (thankfully empty) waiting space, complete with a couch and a coffee table. It was nothing fancy, and it was hard to ignore the smell of raw meat from the next room, but Peter had to admit that, even with the current circumstances, he felt a lot more comfortable here than he would have at a fancy law office.

He headed for the door with the  _ Nelson, Murdock and Page  _ sign. He wasn't sure if it was safer to take a seat and wait until they called him, but he didn't have time for that. So he chose to knock and open the door instead.

He scanned the room. The woman sitting at the desk closest to the door looked up from her work, and Peter watched as the shock hit her face as she took in who exactly had just walked into the office. Two men were sitting further back. One of them, who vaguely looked like the guy Peter had met at the alley, shot at glance at the other. The other man didn't seem to have any reaction other than frowning under his dark glasses. Peter couldn't help but think he looked very familiar.

"H-Hi." Peter choked out, suddenly very intimidated. He had never been in a law office before, he never needed a lawyer, he had no idea of what he was supposed to say. He just wished May was there with him. "Daredevil gave me this." He took off his backpack and pulled out the business card the vigilante had given him. "He said you guys can help me."

He looked between the people in the room, trying to find any sign that this had been a bad idea, that Daredevil had actually lied to him. Wouldn't be the first time someone had, after all. 

"We will," the man in the dark glasses replied, standing up from his seat. His voice sounded familiar too. Peter was about to entertain the idea that  _ he _ was Daredevil when the man started making his way towards him, feeling his way around the room to do so. Only then Peter took in the cane resting against the wall next to his desk. He was blind. "Matt Murdock." He introduced himself, holding out a hand.

"Spider-Man," Peter replied, shaking his hand. "D-Did you guys watch the broadcast? I-I mean--" He added quickly, looking back at Murdock before turning his head to the other two. "Did you hear about? Mysterio, and London?"

"It was hard to miss." The woman near the door replied. “Jameson really wanted everyone in the city to know about it.”

“It’s not true!” Peter argued. “I-I didn’t kill anyone, it was Mysterio. It’s what he did, he created illusions, he made everyone think whatever he wanted. I didn’t-- it wasn’t me, it- it was all him.” That was arguably not true. Peter had been the one to give Beck access to Stark tech in the first place. 

Peter looked between the three of them again. Murdock had a scary serious expression on his face, before he turned his head towards the other two and nodded. Peter had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and he wasn’t sure if it made him feel any better.

“Alright Spider-Man. If Daredevil trusts you, then we can too.” The other man started, getting up from his seat to pull up a chair and place it near his and Murdock’s desk. “Take a seat, we got a lot to talk about.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thank you so much for the support on the last chapter! This is the first time I ever post a fic and I would never expect so many people to read and enjoy something I'm posting! This chapter ran a bit long, but I hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> Second off, Disney and Sony better sort out this mess or I swear I'm contacting Tom and Charlie myself to make this interaction happen, I need it.

Over time, May had learned not to call Peter every five minutes while he was out as Spider-Man. It had taken time to trust that her nephew would come home safe every night, it had taken time for her to figure out just how long she should wait before she should actually start to worry.

She would never ask him to give it all up. Surely she wasn't a fan of the idea, she hated that having Peter swing around the city every night only improved her chances of losing him too. But Peter got superpowers and his first instinct had been to help others, and wasn't that the type of man both her and Ben wanted their nephew to be? 

Not to mention, May was well aware of how many people needed Spider-Man's help on a daily basis, especially after the Blip. She couldn't take him away from them, so she learned to trust her nephew would come home every night, that he would be safe.

Today was not a good example of that improvement.

For the past hour, the only two times she hadn't been trying to contact Peter had been the times she called MJ and Ned, hoping they had some good news. Ned didn't know any better than she did, but MJ had been with Peter when the broadcast went live, so she had been able to tell May where they were.

Since then, her and Happy had been driving in circles around the area, looking up at the buildings for any sign of Spider-Man, while May switched between calling and texting him. They had no success.

It made sense that Peter would be laying low and hiding after being accused or murder and exposed as Spider-Man, but it also only made May more desperate to reach him before someone else could. Not all of them would be very friendly in the current state of things.

May was starting to debate if it would be worth it to just go home and wait there when Peter finally reached out and called her back. May barely even let it ring before answering it.

"Peter? Oh, thank God, are you okay? Where are you?" She asked, all the worry and desperation she'd been feeling since the broadcast showing through her voice.

"I'm alright, May." Peter replied. He sounded tired. "Sorry, I turned off my phone. I was afraid someone could be tracking me."

"They can't. There's not enough evidence against you, Peter, they can't do that."

"I know, I know." There was a pause, Peter took a deep breath before continuing. "Uhm… my lawyers explained that."

Okay, that caught her off guard. May had been about to tell him Happy had offered the exact same thing. 

"Lawyers?" She questioned, looking at Happy, who had the same confused expression on his face as he heard the word. "Peter, where are you? Let's talk about this, okay? You can't just get anyone to help you with this."

"Yeah, yeah. They aren't just anyone, they-- they're nice." 

"You don't really sound like you believe that. Peter, are you sure? Happy said he can help, Stark has more than enough lawyers that can help you." It wasn't that May didn't believe her nephew's judgement. It was just a mistake to assume it was always right, especially considering his judgement had been what got him into this mess in the first place.

"No, it's-- it's just been a long day. I'll text you their address. Can you come pick me up? I can't swing back home, it's too risky."

May assured him they would be right over and hung up the phone. The alert went off just a few seconds after with Peter's text.

"Nelson, Murdock & Page. Have you ever heard of them?" She asked Happy, who shrugged in response. 

"I don't know. Sounds familiar. You haven't?

May shook her head. "It's in Hell's Kitchen. We better get going."

* * *

"You know this would happen eventually, right?" They were trying to keep their voices low so Spider-Man wouldn't hear them in the next room, but Foggy was doing a good job of it. Somehow, he sounded even more desperate than Matt was. 

"Yeah." Matt replied. "You kept saying it would be me."

"I always  _ thought _ it would be you. But hey, don't lose hope, it can still happen. If Jameson decides to go after every other masked vigilante in the city, you'll be next on his list. We won't be able to defend any one of them anymore if that happens." Foggy sighed. Matt didn't blame for being that stressed, if his mind hadn't been otherwise occupied with helping Spider-Man, he would be having the exact same reaction. "And where are you going?" Foggy asked Karen who had just grabbed her purse and was heading for the door.

"The Bulletin." Karen replied simply. "Jameson is about to turn drag Spider-Man's name through the mud, that won't be good for us if it goes to trial. We should get  _ some _ newspaper on our side. I can talk to Ellison, he'll listen to me."

"Didn't he fire you because you didn't wanna tell him who Daredevil is?" Foggy questioned. "What makes you so sure he won't just be interested in that again?"

"Well, it's worth a shot. We don't want another case like Frank's, do we?" 

The room fell silent. Surely the negative media surrounding Castle's trial had made things a lot harder for them, but Matt failing to show up to most strategy meeting hadn't done wonder to help either and they all knew that.

"Karen's right." Matt broke the silence, careful in choosing his next words. "It's already bad enough the Bugle is calling Spider-Man a murderer. Most people in the city love him, but that can change if every other newspaper is doing the same thing. If this goes to trial, the public support can do a lot." 

Foggy sighed again. Matt had the feeling they'd be hearing a lot of that before this was over. 

"See you guys later." Karen said opening the door. "Try asking him more about Mysterio. Ellison won't help us if we don't offer him something better than Spider-Man's secret identity."

And with that, she left. There was a moment of silence before Foggy spoke again.

"Are you gonna tell him?" 

Matt frowned in response. "Tell him what?"

"The truth. If we're gonna do this, we need this kid to trust us, and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't after what the Mysterio guy did." Foggy explained. "If you tell him who you are, he might tell us who he is too, and I don't know about you, but if this goes to trial and someone brings up that Peter Parker, I'd feel a lot better about our chances if I actually knew that's who were dealing with or not."

"I can't just ask him who he is, Foggy. If anything, that'll make him trust us less." He knew Foggy was right, though. Going into this not knowing if Spider-Man was truly Peter Parker could be really bad in the long run.

"Well, he trusted you when you told him to come to us. And you don't have to ask him anything, just be honest with him, let him know he can trust us. We still have some time before we actually have to worry about this, figure something out. Also, if it  _ had _ been you…" Foggy added. "You know, you'd have me and Karen there to back you up. Maybe Spidey does too, but I doubt any of them have a secret identity to keep. It might be good to have the support of someone who does, for  _ both _ of you. None of his Avengers friends bother to keep who they are a secret, and it's not like your  _ team _ or whatever you guys are calling yourselves do either."

As usual, Foggy had a point. Spider-Man had come to them for legal help, but it wasn't the only help Matt could offer, even if he wasn't a big fan of the idea of revealing his secret identity to someone he barely knew. 

Matt didn't have a lot of time to think about it as the kid chose that moment to walk out of the office space. 

"H-Hey, uhm.. my au-- a friend's coming to pick me up." He sounded nervous. Which was no surprise someone from his non-Spider-Man life was about to walk through that door any second. 

"Great! I'll go grab you a change of clothes. You can keep your mask on," Foggy added quickly, which was a good idea considering how Spider-Man's heart rate went off the charts when Foggy mentioned a change of clothes. "But even in the short walk outside, you know… the suit isn't very discreet."

There was a pause, and Spider-Man nodded. Foggy headed upstairs.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Matt quietly considering what Foggy had said, and wondering what was the best way to go on about it. Spider-Man kept standing in the same spot, his arms crossed as his heart beat fast. He was the one who finally broke the silence.

"You can go ahead and ask."

"Ask what?" Of course, Matt didn't need an answer to know what he meant.

"The thing Mysterio said. The thing I didn't talk about. He-- he accused  _ someone _ of being Spider-Man. You wanna know if it's true, don't you?"

With the way he was acting, Matt honestly thought the answer was pretty clear, but he figured it would be a better idea to not mention that.

"Is it?"

There was no response.

"Look, kid,  _ if _ that's true, and you choose to tell us about it, you know we couldn't tell anyone, right? By law, we can't. It’s attorney-client privilege. Even after this whole thing is over, we can't talk about it with anyone but ourselves." Matt explained. "I get why you don't want to, but--"

"You don't get it!" He snapped. Matt couldn't blame him. "No one gets it, I-- this isn't just about who I am!"

"I know. You wanna protect your family. Right? Friends? People you care about?" He had a feeling it wasn't just about that, either. Spider-Man had trusted Mysterio, and in the end the not only turned out to be a bad guy, but he made sure he would turn the world against Spider-Man  _ and _ reveal his real name while at it. "I get it. That card... I gave it to you."

Matt waited as Spider-Man clicked everything into place. It took a couple of seconds.

"You're blind!"

"I noticed."

"Daredevil isn't blind!" 

"I don't remember ever telling you that."

Spider-Man didn't answer. He did grab a flower vase and threw it directly at Matt's face. Matt had no problem catching it before it actually hit him.

"You know, if you broke that, you'd have to explain yourself to Karen." Matt said casually as he placed the case back on the coffee table.

"So you're not blind?" 

Matt sighed. Of course, he was already expecting to have that conversation, if his past experiences were anything to go off of, but it didn't make the explaining any easier.

"I am. It's… complicated." Complicated wasn't a fair enough explanation, but Matt didn't feel like going over that right now.

Luckily, Spider-Man push it, at least for now.

"Why are you telling me this? For all you know, I could go straight to the Bugle after this and give them someone else to to go after so they'll leave me alone."

"Yeah, that crossed my mind. I'd appreciate it if you didn't, though." Not that he actually believed that. He didn't know Spider-Man very well, but this didn't sound like something he'd do. "I guess I just want to make sure you know that, when I say I wanna help, I mean it. If it was me, it'd be nice to know there are people out there who got my back."

The kid didn't answer right away, and Matt couldn't blame him. His past experience with another hero who had offered help put him in this exact situation in the first place, he had no reason to trust what anyone else that called themselves a hero had to say to him.

"What would  _ you _ do?" Spider-Man asked quietly after a few moments. "If it was you? How-- how would you fix this?"

The question caught Matt off guard. Even after having Spider-Man walk into his office, Matt hadn't even entertained the thought of the same thing happening to him, which was insane considering how close he'd gotten at times.

"I don't know," It was an honest answer, even if not at all helpful. "Probably deny it. Make the idea sound so ridiculous no one would actually believe it after a while."

"How? Mysterio already told everyone, I can't make people forget about it."

"No, but you _ can _ make them doubt it. The video doesn't have anything that actually connects Spider-Man to Peter Parker, if Peter Parker makes it unbelievable that he's Spider-Man from now on, people will have a hard time finding anything that proves it." Matt explained. "For example, me, I'm blind, there a dozens of medical records to support that, and if push comes to shove, I can always… play it up a bit. No one will actually believe that I can run across rooftops at night if I keep bumping into things during the day."

Spider-Man considered it for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I can do that. I-I mean, not like you. I don’t really have the blind thing going for me. But I can work something out.”

Matt nodded, though it would be a lie to say he completely trusted the kid with that. He hadn’t really done a good job of hiding who he was the whole time he was at the office. Still, he chose not to mention it for now. He doubted it would do anything to help, and maybe most of it was down to how recent and sudden it all was.

Luckily, he didn’t have to think of anything else to say as Foggy chose that moment to walk back into the office.

“There you go,” He handed Spider-Man the clothes. “They might be a little too big, but it’s probably good enough if you’re only walking outside and into a car.”

“Alright. Thanks, Mr Nelson.” The kid replied, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I-I need to tell you guys something.” He slowly reached up and pulled off his mask. “I-I really am Peter Parker. Mysterio knew, and he knew what would happen if it got out, so that’s why he told everyone, but that’s the only thing he was telling the truth about, I swear!” 

Matt had known Spider-Man was a teenager from the first time they met, but the reality of that hadn't quite hit him until he heard the kid word vomit like that. Peter definitely didn't deserve being put through this.

“We believe you,” Foggy assured him. “We believed you when you told us the whole story earlier and that hasn’t changed. We’re on your side, kiddo. We’ll figure this out.”

Peter nodded. “Thank you. It-- It means a lot.” And with that, he disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

“He said he’s on his way out.” May told Happy, putting her phone away. They’d arrived at the address Peter had given them, but all that was there was a butcher shop, so they decided it was a safer bet to text Peter instead of walking in asking about Spider-Man. 

“Do you think we should talk him out of it?” 

“Out of what?”

“These lawyers. I mean, Peter hasn’t been trusting the best people lately, we shouldn’t just let him go to just anyone for  _ this _ . I’ll talk to Pepper, I’m sure she can help, we can get him the best lawyers he could ever ask for. It’s a much safer this way.”

“We’ll worry about this later, Happy, okay?” May interrupted as Peter got into the car. “Hey. Are you okay?” He  _ looked _ okay, all things considered. Still, she knew Peter better than that.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” He replied. He sounded different than he did on the phone, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 

“What about those lawyers you talked to? What did they tell you?” Happy asked, and May could punch him.

“They’re fine.” Peter replied. “They told me to lay low for a while. At least as Peter Parker, and be careful as Spider-Man.”

“You told them who you are?” It was May’s turn to be skeptical. Surely it was out there at this point, but it didn’t mean Peter should go around telling everyone. “Is that a good idea?”

“I don’t know,” Peter answered, looking back at the butcher shop. “But I trust them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Interestingly enough, whenever Spider-Man got to be overwhelming, being able to just be Peter Parker was always the perfect distraction, the same way slipping into Spider-Man mode was the perfect distraction from being Peter Parker. From now on, Peter doubted this could be the case anymore. 

For what was left of his summer vacation, when he was out as Spider-Man, it wouldn't take long for someone to ask about Peter Parker, or Mysterio. In the rare occasions he'd stepped out of his apartment as Peter Parker, anyone who had ever exchanged a couple of words with him wanted to know about Spider-Man, and the looks he got from anyone who didn't speak up made it clear they either wanted to ask those questions, or thought he was a murderer.

Mysterio successfully managed to crash both halves of his life together, in a way they followed him wherever he went. Even dead, Beck had made sure Peter couldn't catch a break.

Needless to say, it didn’t really make him too excited for school to start. May had even suggested he stayed home for a couple of days, but Peter figured it wouldn’t make things much better. 

So, there he was the first day back, his shoulders slumped as he made his way to the main entrance, ignoring all the eyes set on him, and trying not to listen to what anyone was saying.

“Hey, man. Are you alright?” Ned had been waiting for him at the door, which as a huge relief.

“Yeah, I’m good.” It was the exact same answer he’d been giving everyone who asked, so much so that May stopped believing in him. 

Ned didn’t look like he was buying it either, but he didn’t push it for now, which Peter appreciated. “So, how are we gonna handle this?”

Peter wasn’t too excited about giving Ned any directions on this. He loved Ned to death, but he was a terrible liar. Then again, telling him nothing was probably a worse idea. “Okay, we just… deny everything, alright? No one is gonna believe anything if we make it sound ridiculous.”

“You dorks should start by lowering your voice,” Peter nearly jumped out of his skin before realizing it was MJ coming up behind them. “And stop acting suspicious, that isn’t helpful either. Hi, babe!” She smiled and leaned over to give Peter a kiss.

“H-Hey!” Peter smiled, before clearing his throat and lowering his voice the way MJ had told him to. “I was telling Ned how we should handle this, you know, until I figure something out.”

“Yeah, I got that part. It’s not a bad plan. No one would actually believe you’re Spider-Man if it wasn’t for Mysterio.”

Peter wanted to argue that she had figured it out without Mysterio, but for now, he preferred to believe what she had told him at the airport that no one really paid any attention to him before. They definitely would from now on, though, so he needed to be twice as careful.

“What are you gonna do, then?” Ned asked, as if he had just heard Peter’s thoughts. “Start tripping over things?”

Peter hadn’t actually thought about that part. If he was being honest, he had been kind of hoping his reputation would do most of the work. Still, Mr Murdock said to play it up a bit, and Peter could probably pull that off. “Yeah, I guess so. I’ll figure it out, okay?”

Taking a deep breath, Peter walked into the school, Ned and MJ by his side. MJ took his hand as they walked. Despite everything, Peter couldn't keep the idiot smile off of his face. Before the Blip, he'd been gathering up courage to tell her how he felt about her for months. Now here he was, holding her hand as they made their way to class. That alone made the whole situation a lot more bearable.

Aside from all the sudden attention, the day went on as normal. Peter hadn't had any chances to trip over or generally make a fool of himself any more than he typically would, but no one came to confront him about Spider-Man either. It was only the first day, though, he was sure it was only a matter of time. 

Something different only really happened when he was walking back home. His  _ tingle _ (ugh, he really hated that May started calling it that) went off, and in the first opportunity he had to look behind his shoulder he caught a glimpse of Flash not that far behind him.

Flash, surprisingly enough, had been the only one that didn't text him or reach out to him in any way after the broadcast. He still posted on his social media, and his username was still the same, which Peter could only conclude meant he didn't believe what the Bugle said. He posted and livestreamed less often since then, sure, but he hadn't full on abandoned it. Still, Peter could see it bothering him to find out he'd potentially been calling Spider-Man 'Penis Parker' while claiming to be his biggest fan. Of course he’d want to follow Peter around in the hopes he’d change into the Spider-Man constume, that way he’d have evidence, at least.

Right now, it wasn't really something Peter was worried about; because of Mysterio's revelation, there was a chance someone would be monitoring Spider-Man's patrolling times, especially if people first started spotting him after school was over for the day. 

Still, he couldn't risk Flash seeing him when he eventually left his apartment, in the off chance he had nothing better to do other than stalk his classmate for the rest of the day.

While making sure he was in Flash's field of vision, Peter slipped into the nearest alley. And surely enough, a few seconds later Flash appeared, his phone in hand, probably hoping to get some actual evidence of who Peter was. 

All he found was Peter standing there, doing his best to look as if he didn't know what that was about. "What are you doing?"

Flash clearly looked disappointed, but at least he decided to be straight forward instead of trying to find excuses. "It's true! You're Spider-Man, you knew I was coming!"

"What?! N-No…" Okay, maybe Peter didn't really think this through. "I saw you coming because you were doing a terrible job of hiding." It wasn't really a lie. His sixth sense did warn him but it wasn't really hard to realize what the problem was. 

"Yes, you are! You were there in Washington, and so was Spidey! Same in Europe! You kept talking about that Stark internship! That what it was, right? It was a Spider-Man thing!"

This was what Peter had been afraid of. Mr Murdock had assured him that Mysterio didn't have enough evidence to prove he was really Spider-Man, and that was true for most people, but anyone in his class could easily put the pieces together. Even Flash.

"Look, man, I don't know what to tell you." There was nothing he  _ could _ say would make this any better, honestly. "I'm not Spider-Man, but everyone thinks I am, so I've had a long day, I just wanna go home. And I'd like to not have you stalking me while I do that." 

Peter started walking out of the alley. This was a stupid idea. He should've just gone straight home and make sure Flash wasn't around before leaving, it would've been much easier. 

"Wait!" Flash called. Reluctantly, Peter stopped walking. "I can help you keep it a secret! I won't tell anyone, I promise!"

Peter actually had to think about that for a moment. He had actually been hoping Flash would refuse to believe he's Spider-Man, and continue to make fun of him in the hallways. Of course, it wasn't much fun, but it could be helpful if he wanted people to laugh at the idea that Penis Parker could ever be a superhero.

Still, he had no way of knowing if Flash was telling the truth. He did run into that alley ready to film him, and possibly post it online for views. 

"I’m not Spider-Man, Flash, just leave me alone." Was Peter's response before actually walking away. 

There was no sign of his classmate the rest of the way home, which meant at the very least Flash had at least respected Peter’s request.

In the end, it wasn't too long before Peter put on the suit and started swinging around the city. There was just too much in his mind, and staying home doing nothing wouldn’t make him feel any better.

Swinging, being able to help people, it was still the best feeling in the world, and he wasn't about to let Beck ruin it for him. 

Since the Bugle made Mysterio’s video public, Peter had been making a point to not hang out around the same place for long after helping someone. There was always the chance someone would start asking about Mysterio, or Peter Parker, and he didn’t need that. In one occasion, a small group had even gone as far as staging a mugging to get his attention, only to tie him, pull off his mask and sell the footage to the Bugle. Luckily, Peter heard part of their conversation before he got the chance to jump in. He doubted they would have succeeded either way, but it wasn't worth wasting his time with it.

Overall, his new policy just meant a lot less of hanging around for chatting or taking selfies. He felt a bit guilty about it when someone sounded genuinely excited to meet him, but it wasn't worth the risk.

Still, he kept going. It was better to keep himself busy than to be let alone for too long to his own thoughts. Ever since he became Spider-Man, being exposed was the thing he had been most scared of. Early on, though, that was never really something he gave too much thought. He wasn't doing anything too big. Stopping a few muggings here and there, preventing casualties in car accidents, just being friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and he was fine with that. Then suddenly he's fighting alongside the Avengers, saving the world, and obviously it gets people's attention. Obviously they are curious to know who he is. Even then, Peter still didn't realize how close to happening it actually was and got too sloppy with his secret identity. So much so that he accidentally gave it away to a supervillain. 

It was dark by the time he finally stopped somewhere, and only because he spotted a familiar figure lurking in a rooftop nearby, Batman style. He hadn't realized how close to Hell's Kitchen he had gotten, he'd usually avoid it around that time of the day. Not because he was avoiding Daredevil, but because he knew the area was protected, while there were others that weren’t.

He barely talked to his lawyers or even reached out to Daredevil since the day of the broadcast. He got a text from Mr Nelson the day after explaining they were waiting for the District Attorney to make a decision before doing anything, to which Peter simply replied with an 'ok' and didn't really think much about it since. 

He approached the other hero, and was about to say something to announce his arrival when Daredevil beat him to it.

"Hey, kid." Peter nearly jumped. It wasn't the first time this happened, of course, he had never been able to sneak up on Daredevil, but God, it was still creepy. "We haven't heard from you since you stopped by the office. Everything okay?"

Okay, so it  _ was _ Mr Murdock. Even the voice was the same. That was honestly a relief. At least Mr Murdock hadn't lied to earn his trust. 

"Uhm… Mr Nelson said you guys were waiting before doing anything, so I didn't wanna bother you." It was a lame excuse at best, but it was actually the truth. He figured he'd just wait until them gave him some news. "I, uh… I’m alright, though. how-- how did you know it was me?"

Maybe it wasn't the most relevant question, but Peter wanted to know more about the guy. Anything to signal he could actually trust him, that he wasn't just another Quentin Beck. 

"Heightened senses." Murdock replied. "After I lost my sight, my other senses got a lot stronger. I learned how to control them, so I know what's happening all around me. It's useful in a fight."

"Oh, like a Matt tingle!" Peter exclaimed, getting very excited for a moment before realizing Murdock had no idea of what he was talking about judging by the way he tilted his head in confusion. "Uh, sorry. I, uh… I have something like that. My aunt calls it Peter tingle."

To his surprise, Daredevil actually let out a chuckle. Daredevil! Chuckling! Peter didn't even know that was possible!

"What is it like, then? The…  _ Peter tingle _ ." Murdock asked.

Ugh, Peter was gonna regret telling him about that.

"It's, uhm, kinda like a sixth sense. It works better when I'm in danger. It's hard to explain." Honestly, Peter could probably provide a better explanation than that. He chose not to. Beck never knew about it and in the end it was what helped defeat him. Some things were better kept to himself, just in case.

Sure, the rational part of him told him this was stupid. Daredevil had been around for a long while, even before Spider-Man. If he was really only in it to ruin Peter’s life some more, he would've tried something by now, or at least try to reach out to him more often, instead of constantly having the younger hero come to him.

The other part of him was too busy reminding him of what happened to every other male adult figure he got too close to. His father had died before Peter was old enough to remember him properly, uncle Ben got shot because of him, Mr Stark died after saving the world. The one exception was Beck, who stabbed him in the back in order to get his hands on Stark tech, but, in the end, ended up dead, too. Whichever one Mr Murdock could potentially turn out to be, things weren't looking good for either of them.

Murdock seemed to realize Peter didn’t feel like continuing talking about his powers, because he was quick to change the subject. It was nice of him not to push it, but Peter couldn’t help but feel a bit bad that he was asking the guy so many questions about him while hesitating to give him any answers about himself.

“What about school? Any luck with putting your secret identity back in the box?”

Peter simply shrugged in response, walking over to the other vigilante and taking a seat at the edge of the roof next to him.. It took him a moment to realize that may not have been helpful for the other. "Oh, I-I shrugged!"

"Yeah, I could tell." He replied. "So, it's that bad, huh?"

"I don't know." It was an honest answer. "I know everyone keeps talking about me, and Spider-Man, but I've been trying not to listen to any of it, you know. I think it might only make things worse."

Daredevil nodded. "Well, I wouldn't really have that option. But yeah, I get it. It’s probably a better idea."

There was a pause. "Can… can I ask you something?" Peter feared he had already asked too many questions. Even if he wanted answers, something to assure him Mr Murdock was one of the good guys, the lawyer had no obligation to answer him. Peter definitely wouldn't be happy to answer that many questions to someone who was practically a stranger. To his surprise, though, Mr Murdock tilted his head in his direction, as if to say  _ go ahead _ . "Who-- who else knows? About you? Like, how do you keep it a secret? You seem to be good at it.”

Mr Murdock scoffed. "Well, Foggy would disagree. He says I do a shit job at keeping it a secret. He’s probably right, there are way too many people who know," Peter thought he was just going to leave it like that, but he continued. " There’s him, Karen, a nurse that used to live in the city, she saved my life more times than I can count. A nun from an orphanage nearby, some other vigilantes that I got to work with… and Wilson Fisk. They all know."

Peter frowned. He knew that last name. Most people in and around New York probably did, too. "Fisk? Isn't he like a bad guy? Why does _he_ know?"

Daredevil had been the one to put Fisk away both times he tried raising to power, so he had a hard time believing Mr Murdock would have told him on purpose. Still, a bad guy knew who Daredevil was and somehow that information hadn't ended up on the front page of most newspapers in the city the way Peter's secret had. Peter was very curious as to why. NAnd, admittedly, it made him feel a bit better about having not one, but  _ two _ supervillains he’d gone against that knew who he was.

"He saw me fight, without the suit. And I was already on his radar after I represented the witness that put him in jail the first time so… he just put the pieces together." 

"And he just didn't tell anyone?"

"I'm sure he told most people that were working for him at the time. But no, he didn't try to do what Mysterio did to you. He was planning to, but when I put him away the second time, we made a deal. He would keep my secret and I wouldn't go after his wife. Legally." He specified when Peter opened his mouth to argue. "Foggy and I have more than enough evidence to make sure she goes to prison for just as long as him, and that's the last thing Fisk wants."

Peter had to admit that was pretty badass.  _ Daredevil _ was pretty badass, even if he seemed to be pissed most of the time. Peter was quick to stop that train of thought, though. Last time he started admiring a 'hero', said hero had gone on and put a target on his back. Mr Murdock gave no indication he was the same, sure, but up to that point, neither had Mysterio.

Suddenly, Daredevil tilted his head away from Peter, looking a bit more alert. "I gotta go." He stood up. "You think you can stop by the office one of these days? Foggy and I need to talk to you. It might be a good idea to wear your regular clothes."

"Oh… yeah, sure." Peter replied. He wasn't sure he was a big fan of the idea of stopping by without the suit, but surely it would draw a lot less attention to do so. "Can… can my aunt come? She'll want to meet you guys." 

"Sure. It might be good for her to be there, too." The vigilante walked to the other edge of the rooftop. "See you around, Spider-Man." 

"S-See ya, man!" 

With that, he jumped off the roof. A moment later, Peter saw him parkouring over the next buildings.

Man, he was cool.


	4. Chapter 4

Admittedly, the Spider-Man case wasn’t one that had been discussed in much detail in the offices of Nelson, Murdock & Page. To be fair, there wasn’t much to be discussed just yet, all that they had was what Spider-man had told them when he came over, and Karen did start investigating Quentin Beck the day after. In reality, though, they all knew that one of the main reasons why they hadn’t really talked about the case much wasn’t really because of how much they had to work with at the moment, but because it hit a little too close to home for them.

After all, the only reason Matt hadn’t ended up in the same situation as Peter was the fact that Fisk chose to keep the information to himself as leverage instead of going straight to the press like Mysterio had. After putting Fisk back behind bars, with a guarantee Matt’s secret wouldn’t get out for the time being, none of them were actually thinking of the possibility of Matt getting exposed. Surely they  _ worried _ , but they’d cross  _ that _ bridge when they got to it.

Then the Daily Bugle published a video revealing Spider-Man’s secret identity. The mood in the office changed even before Spider-Man came knocking on their door.

Understandably, Foggy and Karen were immediately concerned about the possibility of the same happening to Matt, either through Fisk changing his mind or the Bugle deciding to unmask more vigilantes from now on, starting with Daredevil.

Of course, part of Matt was worried about the same things. The other part wanted nothing more than to help the kid. 

In a way, the consequences of what happened to Spider-Man didn’t really compare to the consequences of that happening to Daredevil. Spider-Man didn’t risk losing his job for doing what he did, he was an Avenger, and none of his teammates had much concern for secret identities. Not only that, he also stopped to help anyone who seemed to need it. From attempted bank robbery to helping old ladies cross the street, Spider-Man really earned his  _ ‘friendly neighborhood’ _ title. 

Regardless, he chose to wear a mask for a reason, and Matt couldn’t imagine it was much different from his own, so if Spider-Man came to them in the hopes they could help prevent that his life as a superhero clashed with his normal life, of course Matt would want to help

Luckily, Foggy and Karen felt the same way. It wasn't the first time they put their firm on the line to help a vigilante simply because it was the right thing to do. Hopefully things would work out a little better for them this time around.

It was a few days before Peter actually got back to him on stopping by the office. He’d called that morning asking if it was okay for him and his aunt to come over some time after school, to which Matt assured him was no problem.

Surely enough, a few hours later, the Parkers were knocking on their door. 

"H-Hey, guys!" Peter greeted them as he stepped into the office. A woman followed close behind him. "This is my aunt May." 

"Oh, welcome!" Karen greeted them, and Matt heard Peter's heartbeat spike.

Karen hadn't been there when Peter revealed his secret identity to Matt and Foggy, but she  _ had _ been there when Spider-Man had asked them to take on his case, it didn’t take much to put two and two together, especially for the firm’s investigator, and surely the same was going through Peter’s head right now, and it made perfect sense if he wasn’t a fan of the idea. Karen wasn’t a lawyer, after all, the attorney-client privilege didn’t apply to her.

Of course, Matt didn’t believe for a second Karen would run around telling people who Spider-Man was (there was already enough of that going around, if most newspapers and the Daily Bugle itself were anything to go by), but Peter didn’t know her at all. He had no reason to believe that wasn’t exactly what she was about to do.

Whether or not she had figured out, Karen knew better than to show it, so she handled it pretty much how she handled any new client that walked through their door. "I'm Karen Page, I'm the firm's investigator." She said, shaking both of their hands before turning to Matt and Foggy. "Guys?"

Foggy stepped forward. "Hi. Foggy Nelson. That over there is Matt Murdock. Just… take a seat, we can get this started." Foggy gestured to their improvised conference table at the corner of their office. 

There was a moment of silence once they were all seated, broken only by Karen going through the pages of information she'd been able to find on Beck. May was the first to speak.

"So, Peter said you guys asked him to stop by, I hope it's okay that I came along too."

"Oh, that's perfectly fine." Foggy replied right away. "Peter's underage, so it's better if you're around anyway."

"So, why did you guys ask me to come?" Peter asked. "Is there any news? On… on the case?"

“Sort of,” Foggy replied. “After you came here last time, I texted you saying that we were waiting on the DA to press charges or… something.”

“Yeah,” Peter sat up straight on his chair. “A-are they pressing charges?”

“Well, it’s been a few weeks. If they were planning on it, we would know about it by now.” Foggy shrugged. “Legally, you have nothing to worry about, Mr Parker.”

May let out a sigh in relief, Peter didn’t seem very convinced. “Wait, so they’re just… not doing anything? Why?”

“Would you prefer it if they  _ did _ press chargers?” Matt asked, though he had a feeling that wasn’t really what Peter was most concerned about.

“No! N-no, I mean-- they-- they think I tried to kill a bunch of people, right? It’s just-- weird. That they’re just letting that slide, I mean.”

“Well, the law sometimes works that way. For better or for worse.” Matt replied.

“Also, this case kind of puts the DA in a difficult situation.” Foggy continued. “They usually don’t go after big heroes like the Avengers, or the ones that try keeping a secret identity, like Spider-Man, or Daredevil. The Avengers, well, for obvious reasons. And as for the secret identity guys… well, it’s hard to serve them a subpoena when no one knows who they are.”

“And like I told you the other day, there’s nothing connecting Peter Parker to Spider-Man.” Matt added. “They  _ could _ still change their minds and press charges, but it wouldn’t be hard to disprove them in court. Like Foggy said, legally, you have nothing to worry about. Outside of that…”

“Outside of that, everyone still thinks I’m Spider-Man.” Peter finished the sentence. It wasn’t much different from what Matt was going to say. “And there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Actually, we-- thought of something.” Karen intervened. “It won’t make everyone  _ forget _ about what Mysterio put out there, but it could help.”

“What is it?” Peter asked almost immediately. 

Both her and Foggy looked at Matt. He  _ had _ been the one to bring that up, and while all three of them agreed it might actually work, as long as Peter agreed to it, neither Foggy nor Karen actually approved of it.

Matt drew in a deep breath before speaking. “Well, we thought it could be helpful to file a lawsuit against the Daily Bugle. True or not, they made that video public knowing full well they were putting the life of a teenager on the line, as well as everyone close to him.”

“I used to work for the New York Bulletin.” Karen weighted in. “One of the journalists there used to work for Jameson, and she said he doesn’t bother fact checking anything that falls on his lap if he can find a way to profit off of it, so it’s not that far off that’s exactly what he did when he came across that video from Mysterio. We could use that.”

“Wait, so how would we go on about this?” May asked, Matt didn’t miss the hint of interest in her voice. “We just sue them and accuse them of lying? How do we know that won’t backfire when it goes to trial?”

“We’re hoping it won’t get that far.” Foggy said. “In court, they’d have to prove beyond unreasonable doubt that Peter is Spider-Man, which, as Matt said, won’t be easy since they have no concrete evidence other than Mysterio’s video. All  _ we’d  _ have to do is prove the Bugle doesn’t care what they publish as long as they get views, or at least that Mysterio was a liar, and we got both of those things covered, thanks to Karen.”

Karen handed the Parkers the file she’d had on Quentin Beck. “Since Spider-Man came over and told us all the threats Mysterio went up against were a lie, I decided to dig a little deeper. Turns out he  _ wasn’t _ an interdimensional warrior, like the Bugle has been claiming, no real surprise there. He used to work for Stark Industries, but he was fired a few years back, I didn’t get to talk to anyone at Stark about  _ why _ yet, but he assisted in creating, uh, BARF. I’m not sure what the technical terms are, but it creates sort of an illusion around you, memories from your past, whatever you want. It lines up with what Spider-Man told us about him. That file alone is more evidence against Beck than anything the Bugle could possibly gather against you aside from the video.”

At this point, Matt was more than used to witnessing Karen getting them evidence like that, both for their firm and otherwise. It never ceased to amaze him. He often gathered evidence too, but, considering how he’d gotten his own information, it was barely usable in a court of law.

There were a few moments of silence as Peter went through the file before May spoke again. “If we do this… wouldn’t it just expose Peter more? I mean, it’s been bad enough since the broadcast, but couldn’t this just make things worse?”

“It- could, yeah.” It had crossed Matt’s mind, of course. He legitimately wanted to help the kid, so of course he considered it. “It can also expose the way Jameson runs the Bugle, which can be good, both for this case and in the long run.”

“The Bugle will continue to talk about me anyway,” Peter closed the file and slid it across the table back to Karen. “I mean, it won’t be exposing me any more than the Bugle already is every single day, right? I say we do it!”

Peter’s words were a surprise to say the least. Matt hadn’t really expected him to just say no and call it a day, but he wasn’t really expecting him to agree so easily either. 

“Peter, are you sure?” May asked. Clearly, Matt hadn’t been the one one caught off-guard. “I’m sure Mr Murdock is right, and it could help, but he also said it could be dangerous. You already get enough of that.”

“Yeah, also, we can give you guys time to think about this. You don’t have to make a decision right away.” Foggy said. From the beginning, he hadn’t been a fan of the idea, and out of the three of them, he was the only one who still wasn’t really on board with it. 

Matt didn’t blame him. Foggy had gotten better over time when it came to representing other vigilantes. It helped that none of them turned out to be Frank Castle again, but Spider-Man definitely brought that anxiety back full force. Though, not for the same reasons.

Spider-Man wasn’t playing judge, jury and executioner with every criminal he ran across, he was innocent of what he had been accused of-- and, as a bonus, had never shot Matt in the head, either. But he  _ was _ a sixteen year old kid who clearly had been dragged into whatever Mysterio had planned and ended up in way over his head. The last thing Foggy wanted was to put a child through whatever this lawsuit led up to, let alone one that had already been through more than enough in his life.

Matt agreed, of course. He wasn’t any more thrilled about this than Foggy was, but he also knew that, with Peter agreeing, it could be good not only to help Peter cover his secret identity back up, but also to make sure the Bugle didn’t try something like this again. Not to mention, they actually had  _ solid _ evidence on their side this time. They didn’t have to scramble to find evidence hoping it would be enough for them to ask for a mistrial. They could actually make a difference.

“No. Mr Nelson, I appreciate the concern, but I wanna do this!” Peter said, before turning to his aunt for support. “May, the Bugle is already running stories about me anyway, it won’t make any difference. And like Mr Murdock said, it’ll expose them too!” Matt suddenly wished he’d kept his mouth shut. Foggy would never let him hear the end of it. “And no one will think I’m Spider-Man if we go through with this. It’s not a bad idea!”

“Peter, if you do this, there’s no going back.” May argued. “We’d have to get through the whole thing, no matter what happens.”

“Yeah, I know! I wanna do it, it’s worth the risk.” Peter turned back to the lawyers. “We’ll do it, right?”

“Mrs Parker has to agree.” Matt replied. “You’re just sixteen, you can’t make that sort of decision on your own.”

May sighed in defeat. “Screw it, let’s do it! If we have a shot to make the Bugle pay for this, we should take it.”

“Right!” Foggy drew in a deep breath. “Time to piss off J. Jonah Jameson! That’ll be fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will admit, I was mostly winging it in the first few chapters. I always had a pretty good idea of where I wanted this fic to go, but now I finally have a solid plan going forward, so hey, stay tuned, everyone!
> 
> Again, thank you so much for the support, I hope you guys will enjoy what I have in store.
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are much appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus begins me bullshitting my way through anything law related. I do research these things as much as I can, but no promises any of it is actually accurate. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

After deciding to file a lawsuit against the Daily Bugle, Peter fully expected Jameson to double down on the accusations against Spider-Man and Peter Parker. It made enough sense with Peter deciding to fight back, he was ready to deal with whatever Jameson was about to throw his way.

What he had  _ not _ expected was for the Bugle to start attacking his lawyers.

“--A couple of cheaters, con artists who  _ claim _ they want to defend the innocent. People who actually need their help and make a difference.” Jameson ranted as photos of Matt and Foggy from numerous trials flashed on the screen. “ _ Defend the innocent _ , they say. Well, that word doesn’t apply to Frank Castle, a convicted criminal  _ guilty _ of killing dozens of people.  _ Innocent _ also doesn’t describe Luke Cage, a  _ bulletproof _ man running all crime exchanges in Harlem. Or Jessica Jones, a known alcoholic resident of Hell’s Kitchen that is known for killing a man she claimed was  _ controlling _ her, not to mention all other minor felonies she’s involved with. And now Spider-Man-- the masked  _ menace _ who killed the hero Mysterio, and almost countless others. Now, it seems to  _ me _ that they’re more concerned about defending  _ vigilantes _ , especially those to take it upon themselves to make justice with their own hands with no regard for the law.”

The video went on for about ten minutes, but Peter hadn’t had the stomach to get through all of it. As it turned out, he didn’t have to anyway, both MJ and Ned had done so a couple of times already, and had promptly decided to catch Peter up on it after school.

“He’s one angry little man, isn’t he?” MJ commented as she watched it from her phone-- with her earbuds in, under Peter’s request.

“It only gets worse from there. What is he talking about now?” Ned asked.

“Some article from the New York Bulletin that Page wrote.” MJ replied. “He’s saying it encouraged vigilante activity or some crap. He’s just attacking them like he does with Spider-Man.”

“Can he even do that?” Peter interrupted, mostly to change the subject. The idea that his lawyers were now the ones being attacked by the Daily Bugle because of him was infuriating.

They were nice, and had agreed to help him only because they thought it was the right thing to do. They didn’t deserve to be put through this. And Peter couldn’t even bring himself to think of what would happen if Jameson decided to look a little too closely into Mr Murdock. One hero with their secret out to the world was already more than enough.

“I don’t think he should.” Ned answered. “His lawyers probably aren’t happy. On the bright side, it might help your case.”

That didn’t cheer him up as much as Ned probably expected it to. Good for his case or not, he was sure it couldn’t be good for their firm. And, working from the back of a butcher shop, they already had it bad enough without Peter transferring them his own problems.

“You shouldn’t beat yourself too much for this.” MJ said, putting her phone away. “Lawyers are supposed to be smart, and if yours are any good, they’ll know how to use this to help the case. It might turn out to be a good thing.”

“Not for them when this is over!” Peter argued. “They aren’t really making a lot of money, it could be a really bad for their firm, and then what?”

“Why did you go to them, then?” MJ asked. “I mean, they’re all the way in Hell’s Kitchen, they’re so small that they have to work from the back of a butcher shop. Why didn’t you go to someone else?”

“Yeah, couldn’t Happy find you like Stark lawyers?” Ned said. “That would be cool.”

“I--” Peter wasn’t sure how to answer. May and Happy hadn’t actually pushed it after Peter told them he trusted Nelson & Murdock to handle his case, so he hadn’t had the time to come up with a valid response. “Someone-- Daredevil referred me to them. They worked together before.”

“Whoa, you know Daredevil?!” Ned asked, a little too loudly than Peter would have liked.

“Shh, yeah, yeah. I know him.” Peter replied, looking around to make sure no one had heard it. “He helped me out a couple of times, and then he gave me their card, so I went to them.”

“And that’s it?” MJ asked, squinting her eyes at him.

Peter always had a hard time hiding things from her, and it hadn’t gotten any better since they started dating, so trying was pointless. Still, as much as he trusted her, he couldn’t just tell her the real reason he’d chosen to stick with those two lawyers from Hell’s Kitchen most people hadn’t even heard about. It wasn’t his secret to tell.

“That-- that’s what matters, okay? Daredevil gave me their card, and I trust him, so they were the only people I thought of going to about this.” Peter explained. None of it was really a lie, it just wasn’t the whole truth. “Also, they worked with, like, heroes and vigilantes before, like Jameson said, and they did well! I’ll be fine.”

“Well, to be fair, the Punisher was found guilty.” Ned said.

“Yeah, only because he freaked out and confessed when he was supposed to testify.” Peter argued. “I won’t do that! I mean, Mr Murdock said this probably isn’t even going to trial, they don’t have much evidence against me. They had  _ a lot _ of evidence against the Punisher. Also, MJ looked into them. They’re good, right?”

She sighed. “Like I told you, they’re good. They won most cases they’ve been involved in that I could find, and they helped to take down that Wilson Fisk guy twice. Other than that, there’s not much more to it. I just don’t get why you’d go to them, there’s nothing that really makes them stand out.” She explained, and watched Peter, surely hoping his reaction would tell them more than what he was.

“Look, they don’t have to stand out, okay? They just need to be good, and they are!” He knew he was being a little too defensive, which wouldn’t make MJ or Ned any less suspicious, but that was a problem he would deal with later. “Look, I gotta go,” He said, making a show of checking the time on his phone before getting up. “Mr Murdock said they wanted to talk to me before the meeting, and I can’t be late.”

Ned and MJ wished him luck and Peter left. Truth was, he still had a good hour and a half before the meeting, and Mr Murdock only told him to meet them at the Daily Bugle office, not that they needed to talk beforehand. All the legal talk was already getting to his nerves, though, and he was sure he was getting enough of that in the following hours, not to mention the other three other meetings he’d need to get through in the near future. This hadn’t even started and Peter already needed a break.

He had decided in the morning that today was a bad day to go out as Spider-Man. At least until he left the Daily Bugle. Right now, he was about to go back on that decision because Spider-Man was the only thing that could get his mind off things, no matter how much of a stupid idea it was.

Once the suit was on, he swung his way towards the Daily Bugle office, with some minor detours to help people on the way. In true Parker fashion, though, he lost track of time, and by the time he realized it, he was already late. 

He made his way to the Bugle and changed as fast as he could, but by the time he arrived, he was already a good fifteen minutes late to the meeting, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Hi, sorry I'm late I got held up in school!" He said as he ran into the room, but his voice died as he took a look around. 

Aunt May smiled and pointed to the seat next to her for him to sit. No one else was as welcoming.

His lawyers barely even took notice as he walked in. Mr Nelson leaned onto the table, flipping through his notes, but overall looking very uncomfortable. Mr Murdock was clenching his jaw looking like he’d rather be out as Daredevil punching people. Peter wondered if they were angry at what Jameson had said about them, which, considering it had been his fault, didn’t make him feel any better.

Jameson and his lawyers had their eyes locked on Peter as he made his way through the room. Peter wouldn’t be surprised if Jameson just pulled out a camera and started yelling about him the way he did in every single one of his videos lately, only now he’d do it to Peter’s face rather through a screen. As for his lawyer, he was the only one who looked happy with the whole situation, with a smug smile on his face as he Peter took his seat.

Maybe he had already screwed everything up by not being on time. The thought made him sink in his chair a bit.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Mr Parker." Jameson's lawyer said. "We were just discussing your whereabouts. Surely seems a bit off that you would miss such an important meeting."

"Like he said," Murdock replied before Peter got the chance. "He got held up in school. It shouldn't surprise you, he's a 16 year old."

"Yeah, one your client deliberately put in danger by telling the whole world he’s an Avenger." Mr Nelson added. "Did Mr Jameson even consider that before releasing Mysterio’s video?”

“Mr Jameson and the Daily Bugle have a history of telling the truth.” His tone of voice was just as smug as his smile, and Peter immediately understood why his lawyers looked so miserable. “The viewers expect a certain level of honesty they don’t find in other news outlets or newspapers. My client was sent a video shining some light of the events in London, as well as the truth about Spider-Man. What reason would he have not to release it?”

“It’s not much of a commitment to the truth if he isn’t even fact-checking what he’s being sent, is it?” Murdock argued. “Sounds more like he just wanted the exclusive, even if he had to risk the life of a minor to do so.”

The discussion went on and on. Mr Nelson and Mr Murdock continued to play the endangering Peter’s life and lack of a reliable source card, while Jameson’s lawyer still went on about how the Bugle owed their viewer the truth no matter what. Every time Peter though Murdock or Nelson had the opposing lawyer in a corner, the guy would find a way to get out of it, and vice-versa. 

It felt like forever before the meeting was finally over and they could leave the building. Peter wasn’t feeling any better once he did, though. They still had three of these meetings to get through, hoping they could convince Jameson to reach an agreement so they wouldn’t take this to trial. While his lawyers had assured him that, if it came to that (which was unlikely), the evidence was still in his favor, so he wouldn’t have to worry, it would just drag this on for longer, which Peter really didn’t want to do.

“Do you regret deciding to go through with it?” Murdock asked him when they were outside waiting for a cab and Peter expressed those feelings.

“No! No, I just-- I was kinda hoping we could have settled this today, you know.” Peter explained. “So it could all be over already.”

“Well, we probably shouldn’t be surprised.” May said. “Jameson already started off the day trashing on your firm, he probably isn’t giving up that easily.”

“Yeah, I’m so sorry about that, by the way.” Peter added quickly. “I-I had no idea he was gonna go do that, I wouldn’t get you guys involved if I did.”

“Don’t worry about it, we expected it.” Murdock replied. “You can’t really go after someone in the press without them firing back.”

“Plus, we’ve had much worse than that.” Nelson added, with a shrug. “We aren’t really trying to hide any of that, so if that’s the best he can do, it’s a bit disappointing.”

Peter wanted to argue that Jameson  _ could _ do better if he decided to investigate Mr Murdock a little further, but he chose it wasn’t a good idea with May still present.

“So you guys aren’t mad? I-I mean, you looked pretty angry back there, I thought it might have something to do with that. O-Or because I was late.”

Nelson sighed. “Yeah, that was not about you, kid, don’t worry about it.”

The doors to the building opened, and Jameson’s lawyer walked out, surrounded by about four security guards. He barely acknowledged the group as he walked by and entered the car that was waiting for him. 

When Peter looked back at his lawyers, the expressions on their face were about the same as the ones they had on the conference room. 

“Is it about him?” “He asked. “You guys know him?”

“His name is Ben Donovan.” Mr Murodck replied. “We worked against him before. He’s Wilson Fisk’s lawyer.”

Suddenly, Peter understood. Fisk knew who Daredevil was, Mr Murdock said the people that worked for him probably would too. 

Neither Mr Murdock nor Mr Nelson said anything else, but the expression on Mr Murdock’s face was clear: Donovan knew Matt Murdock was Daredevil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for reading and for all the support in previous chapters, you guys are the best! 
> 
> Kudos are always appreaciated and keep the comments coming, I love reading you guy's reactions and whether you're enjoying it.


	6. Chapter 6

No one could say Ben Donovan was bad at his job. So far, he had never failed to cut their clients a deal, or lower their sentences. And, for that, they trusted him. They knew he was loyal, and would do his job no matter what. Well, as long as they could afford it anyway. He wasn't an idiot. 

Wilson Fisk was one of the few that had been able to for a longer period of time. It was why he was now sitting on a private cell rather than sharing with a nobody in general population. 

How the man could afford it still, Ben had no idea. It hardly actually mattered. The man had built an empire so big even the people closest to him had a hard time keeping track of everything. Much like last time, his time in prison was merely temporary. Next time he attempted rising to power again, Fisk had ensured he would make sure all obstacles were out of the way. 

So Ben waited. Much like before, he was well aware his patience would be rewarded. And, in all honesty, it was better than to stick to Fisk’s side than to be one of the first few to go once he was Kingpin again. 

"Mr Fisk…" He greeted his client as the guards escorted him into the room. 

For anyone who had seen Fisk at his prime, seeing him back at Rikers was sad. He had lost weight, even his slightly smaller stature was barely as imposing as he once had been. His facial hair was growing and unkempt. Anyone who didn’t know who he was might confuse him for a homeless man. 

"Mr Donovan…" Fisk replied, taking his seat across from the table. He waited for the guards to leave the room before speaking. "How's Vanessa?"

"Safe." Ben assured him. That had been how their conversations started for so long it was almost an automatic response. "I visited her myself yesterday, she's got everything she needs."

"They brought her to New York!?" Fisk asked. Despite the gruffy new look, his tone of voice could still be terrifying, which was why Ben shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"It was _ her _ request." Ben was quick to add. Last thing he needed was to see to replace Vanessa’s bodyguards _ again _ . “She’s in one of the penthouses, aside from the usual people, only the doorman knows she’s there, and even then he isn’t quite sure of who she _ actually _ is.”

Fisk didn’t look too convinced, which wasn’t a surprise. He had always been a calculating man. Every step he took was with then ten next steps in mind, and even then it was only when he was absolutely certain it was the best course of action. When it came to his wife, that wasn’t the case. In those instances, his feelings got the better of him. 

Not that Ben could blame him, considering how many enemies he’d acquired in the past few years.

“If Poindexter finds her--” Fisk said. “If he finds out she's here--”

“Mr Poindexter is still at Birch’s Psychiatric Hospital, and his doctors say he’s been very... _ cooperative _since his surgery. He’s not a threat for the moment.” Ben assured him. “And you know it's hard to Convince Vanessa of something if she's already put her mind to it. She wants to stay, to be close to you."

That seemed to break Fisk’s resolve for the moment. He considered his lawyers words, and finally nodded. 

“Double the security on the outside of the building. Don’t… don’t tell any of them what they’re protecting, the less people who know about it, the better.” He demanded. “We can’t risk that information… being heard by the wrong ears.

Ben nodded. “If it’s Murdock you’re worried about, sir, he’s been keeping his end of the deal. It’s… unlikely he’ll break it now. He’s a smart man. Not to mention, I imagine he’ll be… too busy to worry about Vanessa, for the time being.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. The… Spider-Man case. You’re representing defense, are you not?”

“I am. Mr Jameson wanted someone with some history with vigilantes to handle his case. Considering I’m in Daredevil’s and Luke Cage’s bad list, he chose to hire me.” Ben replied, then paused, shifting in his seat before speaking again, choosing his next words carefully. “Perhaps, Mr Murdock could be… even busier. If what happened to Spider-Man were to happen to him. In a similar fashion.”

“Like you said,” Fisk replied, slowly. “Mr Murdock has been smart to keep his end of the deal, it would be… _ unwise _ for me to do so. Especially with you letting Vanessa came back to New York.”

Ben nodded in defeat . Of course, he couldn’t say he had expected a much difference response, but it was worth a shot. Surely it would make this case a lot easier to work on. Still, even if Fisk had refused, his face was still intact, so for all intents and purposes, it had been a success. 

“Of course. It was just a silly thought.” 

“There is, however…” Fisk continued, to the lawyer’s surprise. “A rumor I’ve heard from one of my… acquaintances. About a man in here who knows who Spider-Man is. Apparently, he’s denied it, but my acquaintance believes he isn’t telling the truth. Perhaps he would be willing to talk. Under the right circumstances.”

Ben smirked and leaned onto the table. “I'm listening.”

The last of the men fell unconscious and Matt let out a breath. There had only been three of them, it shouldn't have worn him out this much. Maybe Foggy was right about him getting not enough sleep, and it was finally catching up to him. Not that he would ever admit it-- Foggy would never shut up about it.

Only then he heard that familiar heartbeat coming from somewhere above him. A few months ago, he would have a hard time putting a name to it, but after spending so much time around the kid since he started working on his case, that heartbeat was starting to become as familiar to him as Foggy's or Karen's.

"Spider-Man." He said, figuring Peter wouldn't really appreciate having his real name spoken out loud in front of three criminals, even unconscious ones. "What are you doing here?"

Peter's heartbeat sped up, possibly because he hadn't expected Matt to actually notice him. Knowing what Matt could do or not, it was hard to get used to it. Even Karen or Foggy got startled from time to time.

"Oh, I-- I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by to check in, you were… you know… you didn't look too happy about the whole-- situation earlier." Peter replied.

Matt sighed. "I'm fine. That would happen sooner or later.” He’d hoped it would be later rather than sooner, but there was nothing he could do about it. 

Peter nodded and jumped down to the alley next to Matt. "So, who are these guys?"

"Drug dealers. Well, at least this one is." Matt replied, pointing at the one closest to him. "The others are just his bodyguards or something."

"Right." Peter walked over to one of the bodyguards and grabbed his bag that was laying next to him. "Oh, yeah, there's a bunch of drugs in here. Could you smell them? Or something like that?"

"No." Matt replied, grabbing the actual drug dealer by his collar and sitting him up, propping his back against the wall. "They were in the middle of a deal. The buyer ran when he saw me."

Peter nodded and reached for one of the duffels inside the bag. "This says 'Luke Cage'. Isn't that that guy that's bulletproof? I thought he was a good guy."

That actually got Matt's attention. He turned around. "He is. Last I heard he actually banned all dealers from Harlem. Are you sure it says Luke Cage?"

"Yeah. Big bold letters. Maybe he just doesn’t want them in Harlem, but he’s fine selling in other places?"

Matt shook his head. "Not the Luke I know." 

Peter shrugged dropped the duffel and the bag back where he found them. Matt couldn’t blame him if he was still skeptical-- he never met Luke after all, and the first time he heard about the guy, it was probably about him being the new crime boss in Harlem, which wasn’t a good look.

"Should we like-- call the police or something?” Peter asked. 

Matt paused, tilting his head as he listened. One of the sirens seemed to be headed their way. "They’ll be here soon." He said, then pointed at the drug dealer. "This one's waking up."

It took the man a second to process what had happened and who was standing right in front of him. Once he did, his heartbeat sped up, he tried getting up to run away, but he barely had the time to take a step before Matt’s heel connected to his kneecap. It wasn’t enough force to break it, only dislocate it, but it was better than to risk him getting away.

"Here's how this is gonna go," Matt started as Peter walked over to his side. "I'll ask you some questions, you’ll tell me what I need to know and I don't break your leg. Sound good?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, man. Sound good."

"Cool." Matt said, placing his foot on the man's injured leg. "Who do you work for?"

"I don't know. ARGH!" He yelled as Matt put pressure to his leg. "I don't! I don't, I promise you! I'm just selling it, man! They never tell us anything unless we need to know! We just go to a place, give them the money and get the stuff!"

"Who are _ they _?" Matt demanded.

"We never get their names! We're not supposed to ask questions! Not if we wanna keep our jobs!"

"What about Luke Cage?" Peter asked, his voice taking a suddenly confident tone Matt had never heard from him before. "Why is his name on the drugs?"

"I don't know, to piss him off! Someone did this before a while back and it worked! Cage showed up and took their whole thing down!”

"And how do you know he won’t just do that to you, too?" Peter asked.

"I don’t! I don’t have a choice! I'm just trying to make a living!" 

The man's heart, though it was beating fast, was steady for the whole conversation. Matt removed his foot. The guy was terrified enough that Matt didn’t need to threaten him anymore.

"When are you meeting your bosses again?" He asked. 

"Friday, 8 pm, at the docks. That's where the drugs come in from. That's all I know, I swear!" 

His heart was still steady. He was telling the truth. It was only then, though, that Matt noticed another heartbeat, slowly approaching him, with a gun pointed directly at the back of his head. 

Before the man could pull the trigger, Matt jumped and kicked back, sending him against the opposite wall, his gun falling from his hand Peter was fast enough to web him up so he wouldn't try anything again. 

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed, then looked back at Matt, who, in turn, turned back at the drug dealer. 

"The police is on the way. You'll tell them exactly what you told me. Try anything different, and I'll know, and I'll find you. I won't be so nice next time." He kicked the man's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Dude… I usually just web them up to something until the cops show up! Is he gonna be okay?" Peter asked. 

"He’ll be fine. We should go up, we really don't wanna be here when the cops show up." He said before jumping into the fire escape and head to the roof.

Peter took a second, but followed him. Rather than using the fire escape, though, he just jumped from wall to wall until he reached the roof. 

"That's just showing off." Matt commented as he finally reached the roof, a considerable minute after Peter. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Are you?" He asked. "I mean that guy could've shot you!"

"Well, I caught him in time, so… it's fine." 

"I-I'm sorry. I should've known. I-I should've heard him coming. The… _ tingle _ doesn't always work."

"Don't worry about it, I should've heard him earlier too. It’s been a long day." Matt assured him. "Also, you said it works better when you're the one in danger, and you weren't, so… don't push yourself too hard."

"Yeah." Peter nodded. "I guess I should figure out how to use it properly."

Matt nodded, thinking about for a moment. "I... I could teach you. If you want." He offered. 

Peter didn't respond right away. "Really? I-I mean, I… yeah, that'd be cool! Like, if it won't be too much trouble."

"No, it's fine. You're already doing much better than I was when I started learning, shouldn't be too hard." Matt replied. "I know a place we can use. I'll text you the address."

Peter nodded. "Cool! I'll-I'll be there!"

Matt smiled. "Alright." He said. "Look, you don't have to stay. I can make sure they stay put until the cops arrive. I'm sure you have… things to do, people to help. I'll be fine."

Peter hesitated, but finally nodded and started walking away. "Okay. I'll see you around then! Bye, Mr Daredevil!" 

And with that, he jumped off the roof. 

Honestly, Matt had no idea of how he could actually teach Peter anything. Most of his training had come alongside learning how to fight, and even the bits that hadn’t, well… Matt hadn’t had the best teacher.

He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you guys so much for reading and leaving your kudos and lovely comments! 
> 
> I've been having a blast reading your reactions, they literally make my day!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking on giving weeklyn updates a try, since I've been managing to finish up most chapters days before I'd normally be posting them, so hey, let's give that a try so we can get to some of the more interesting stuff!
> 
> So, here's chapter 7, I hope you guys enjoy it!

The second meeting took place only a couple of days after the first, which Peter found extremely inconvenient. 

The first one would already be stressful enough even without the opposing lawyer working for an evil crime boss who happened to know something that could disbar at least one of Peter’s lawyers.

Much like the first meeting, Peter chose to spend this meeting completely silent, fidgeting with the zipper of his hoodie under the table, letting May and his lawyers do the talking for him. It made him feel like he was a little kid again, depending on adults to solve his problems, but it was safer than risking letting something slip by opening his mouth.

He was out of the conference room as soon as possible once the meeting was over. The last thing he wanted was to be reassured of how this case would turn out. So, of course, Mr Nelson caught up to him after the meeting, surely to reassure him of how the case would turn out.

“Hey, Peter!” He called. 

Reluctantly, Peter stopped and turned towards him.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

"Yeah, I’m fine." Peter shrugged. That wasn't really true, so he added. "Considering… you know."

Mr Nelson nodded. "Yeah. I guess that's not surprising. Cases like this can be tough, especially for someone your age.”

May had said the same thing when they got home the day Mr Murdock had suggested suing the Bugle. Of course, Peter knew she had a point, but he still insisted on going through with it. How hard could it be to get through a few meetings if he could help him keep his secret identity? 

Obviously, he had underestimated how hard it could actually be, because now, two meetings in, Peter could barely even stomach the idea of getting through the next one, let alone a full on trial.

"Yeah I know. I-I mean, it’s a lot, but it’s fine. I can take it!" Given the voice break on that sentence, it was clear enough that wasn’t the truth. 

"I know." The lawyer replied, though it didn’t sound like he really believed Peter at all. "But I just want you to know, and Matt agrees with this… if you don't wanna be here the next two meetings, it's totally fine. You're a kid, no one can expect you to sit through all of these, even if it's about you."

Peter actually considered it. It would be so easy to take up on that offer. He could hang out with Ned, take MJ on a real date to make up for the fiasco their first one had been, he’d even have more time to be out as Spider-Man. Those options surely were a thousand times better than sitting at a table for a two hours at a time while J. Jonah Jameson shot death glares at him every five minutes. 

Still, it hardly felt fair to be doing any of that while May sat through them for him, while his lawyers kept working on the case, even though they seemed pretty sure it wouldn’t go any farther than these four meetings with Jameson and his lawyer.

"I can do it." Peter assured his lawyer. "I mean, it's only what, two more meetings, right?"

With a sigh, Mr Nelson nodded. "Hopefully, yeah."

That wasn't really reassuring. Peter knew the chances of this going to trial were minimal, as both of his lawyers had repeatedly told him so. Still, Peter wasn’t sure he could trust that anymore considering who Jameson’s lawyer was. Surely Donovan would have known who Peter’s lawyers were, so it wasn’t a stretch to think he had his own personal reasons to do so.

"Are you sure, though? About having done this?” Mr Nelson continued. “I mean, no… regrets or anything?"

"I mean, it doesn’t make any difference now, does it?" Peter asked. "We can't just drop it."

“Yeah, we really can't.” He sighed. “Is it working, at least? Like the plan was that people wouldn't believe you're Spidey if you went through with the lawsuit. How is that working out?"

Peter wasn’t sure how to answer. Surely the questions of whether or not he was Spider-Man had stopped, the school news had stopped bringing him up every single day, even Flash was back to calling him Penis Parker whenever he saw Peter in the halls (though Peter suspected that had more to do with the  _ help _ he’d offered rather than how the lawsuit was going). Even as Spider-Man, the harassment that came with Mysterio’s reveal was mostly gone. Peter wasn’t sure if that had more to do with the case or the fact that, for the case, the Bugle had to stop talking about Peter Parker in every single one of their videos.

"Yeah, I guess it's working." Was his reply. "Seriously, Mr Nelson, it’s fine, you don't have to worry about me."

Mr Nelson let out another sigh, “If I had a dollar for every time I heard that…” He muttered, but luckily, didn’t push it. "Matt said he offered to teach you a few things." 

"Oh… yeah. Yeah, he did." He was actually supposed to meet Mr Murdock in a couple of hours. "What, uh… what did he say?" 

"Not much, he was just explaining why he’d leave the office early today. I didn't ask anything else, that's your business."

Peter couldn’t say he was too happy with multiple people knowing he needed he needed to learn anything, but he also couldn’t blame Mr Murdock for justifying why he would leave work early, and he really appreciated that Mr Nelson chose not to ask for any more information. 

Maybe his secret  _ was _ in good hands, after all.

"Might be good for your...whatever it is you do, you know." The lawyer continued. "Matt can be a stubborn son of a bitch, but he really knows what he's doing out there."

"Yeah, I've seen it." Peter said. It was partially why he had taken Murdock on his offer so fast. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn a few more tricks.”

He honestly doubted that his sixth sense was as accurate as whatever Mr Murdock could do, but whatever the case, it really would be nice to be able to make more sense of it. And it would be  _ extra _ nice if he didn’t have to be in mortal danger to be able to use it.

"Look, Mr Nelson, I really appreciate the concern." He continued. "I'll let you know if I change my mind about the meetings, I promise. I-I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow."

Mr Nelson nodded and smiled at him and Peter went to meet May.

She gave him a ride home so Peter could get the suit, and soon he was back out as Spider-Man. 

For a while, he just swung around the neighborhood helping whoever he could as usual, and eventually started heading towards Hell’s Kitchen as the time to meet Mr Murdock approached.

The address Mr Murdock had texted him was for a place called Fogwell's Gym, which Peter wasn’t a fan of. From what he knew about gyms, they were about the last place he’d want to be learning anything. All the people inside and the smell would be enough to give him a headache, and he knew for a fact he could never focus in the middle of so much noise.

He landed on an alley near the gym to change. He figured he’d already draw too much attention as Peter Parker, no need to walk into a gym in full Spider-Man gear.

Throwing the Spidey suit into his backpack, Peter ran towards the gym. It was easy enough to find, and, to his relief, it seemed to be empty. It wasn’t a gym like Peter had thought - there were some workout equipment laying around, but with the boxing match posters all over the walls and the boxing  _ ring _ in the middle of the room, it didn’t look like any gym Peter had seen in movies or TV.

Also unlike he’d seen on movies, it wasn’t fancy in any way, it actually looked like nearly noone had even been there for weeks. Peter didn’t mind it - it made him feel much more comfortable than if he actually  _ was _ at a fancy gym.

"Hey, kid." Mr Murdock said, making Peter nearly jumped through the roof. 

The lawyer was standing by one of the punching bags, taking off his hand wraps. With one of the punching bags still swinging next to him, Peter figured he had been practicing before he heard Peter coming in.

"Hey," Peter said. "So, what- what is this place?" Peter asked, putting his backpack down, taking another look around the Fogwell’s.

"Boxing Gym." Matt replied, which Peter didn't find very helpful. 

"I mean, I figured that." Peter answered. "Do you box?"

“Sometimes.” He replied. “It’s good to let out some steam.”

Peter let out a chuckle. He couldn’t explain how much sense it made that Matt Murdock, lawyer by day, Daredevil by night, would also sometimes box as a  _ hobby _ . 

Before he could express that thought, his eyes fell on a poster near the door where he came in.

“Hey, Mr Murdock…”

"You can call me Matt." He said.

"Matt," Peter corrected himself. "Uhm… who's Jack Murdock?"

Matt stopped what he was doing, tilting his head up at Peter in confusion. 

"T-The poster.” Peter pointed, before realizing it wasn’t at all helpful. “There's a poster, it says  _ Carl 'Crusher' Creel vs Battlin' Jack Murdock _ ." He explained. "Are you guys related?"

Realization fell on Matt's face. Peter supposed it made sense that he didn't know the poster was still there. Maybe it was a mistake to bring it up.

"Yeah, that was my dad." He replied. Peter didn't miss how he'd said  _ was _ instead of  _ is _ .

"What happened to him?"

Matt sighed. "He won.”

Peter frowned. It wasn’t really the answer he was expecting. 

Matt seemed to pick up on the boy’s confusion, because he added. “He died.”

“Oh…” For a moment, Peter didn’t know what to say. He could understand it, honestly. He’d had way too many people dear to him dying too. "I'm sorry." 

"It's fine,” He shrugged. “that was a long time ago. I just didn't know that was still there."

Peter nodded. “Is that why you knew about this place? Do you own it or…?”

“No.” Matt chuckled as if the idea was ridiculous. “I can’t afford it. Danny Rand owns it. He bought it a while back for himself, me, and our… friends. He figured we could all use a place to go punch something if we needed it. I already came here and it was available, so… here we are.”

“Won’t they come here, then?” 

Considering Matt’s secret wasn’t making headlines, it was safe enough to say Matt’s friends wouldn’t go around telling everyone that the rumors about Spider-Man were true. Still, much like with Mr Nelson, Peter was a big fan of anyone knowing Spider-Man was taking classes from Daredevil, let alone other heroes.  _ Especially _ one that may or may not be dealing drugs in the city.

“I doubt it.” Matt assured him. “Danny’s out of the country, Luke lives too far away and Jess isn’t the working out type. We’ll be fine.”

“What about… other people? Someone just coming in here for training?”

“Everyone thinks the place closed down a few years ago.” He said. “I mean, officially, it did. And even before that, the owners were already struggling to keep the lights on. No one will come here, trust me.”

That sounded good enough for Peter, so he nodded. “Alright. So, how do we do this? Have you ever… taught anyone before?”

“Yeah, I helped Foggy with a few subjects back in law school.” Matt replied, sarcastically. “But if you’re asking if I’ve ever taught anyone how to use their heightened senses before, no, I haven’t.” 

Peter chuckled. “How do you know you can teach me, then?”

“I don’t. But I don’t think you’d have much luck finding anyone else. Come on, step into the ring.” Matt said, climbing onto the ring himself.

“How did you learn it, then?” Peter asked following him. “Did someone to teach you?”

“Yeah, I used to to have a mentor.” Matt replied, the smile falling from his face. “He was blind, like me. He taught me how to use my senses, how to fight… pretty much everything I know.”

Peter nodded. He wondered what the odds were that Matt ran into someone like him who could teach him things. “Did you try getting notes from him?”

“Well, he’s dead, so I doubt I could reach him.” Peter felt a bit bad for asking, but Matt didn’t seem mad, so maybe he hadn’t royally screwed up yet. “Also, trust me, you wouldn’t want his notes. He was a dick.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.” Peter smiled. “So, how do we start?”

“I have no idea.” Matt answered with a shrug. “Why don’t you tell me what you can or can’t do? I’ll need to know how strong your senses actually are. Can you smell something through walls? Hear heartbeats?”

Peter thought about it. He definitely couldn’t hear heartbeats, but he honestly never tested out his heightened senses the way he did his strength of wall climbing. Most of the time he just tried working around them so he could get things done, otherwise he’d just get overwhelmed. From the beginning, using them to his advantage seemed impossible. Even when the  _ Peter Tingle  _ (God, he really needed a new name for that) kicked in, Peter was never sure what actually triggered it. Usually, he was just in terrible danger, and it just sort of  _ happened _ .

“I-I don’t know.” Peter answered. “When I made my suit, I made, uh… these sort of goggles. The lenses help me focus. I couldn’t even begin to test them out, I’d get too overwhelmed. And when Mr Stark made my suit, he made it with those too, so I never really had to use them a lot anyway.”

“Well, you said the…  _ Peter Tingle _ is sort of a combination of all them, right? So, in a way, you  _ have  _ been using them. Just… more like a survival instinct than anything else.”

“Yeah… yeah, I guess so. It’s not the same as using them separately, though.” Peter said.

“It’s really not.” Matt replied. And, considering what he’d seen the man do, Peter figured he knew what he was talking about. “Alright. So, I guess for now we should just test them out, see what you can do, so we know what we’re dealing with.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Peter agreed, pausing for a moment before turning back to Matt in confusion. “How do we do this?”

“Well, stop ignoring your senses. Tell me what you can pick up.”

Peter frowned. “But… it’s a lot. It all just sort of blends together, I can’t just tell you one thing.”

“Yeah, that’s the point.” Matt said. “Try to identify individual things, whatever you can hear or smell, no matter how insignificant it is.”

Peter nodded and took a deep breath. It was gonna be a long night.

* * *

Wilson finished reading the file and lifted his eyes to his lawyer. “Is this all?”

Donovan nodded. “Unfortunately, most details about his case are held by SHIELD, given the…  _ origin _ of his technology. Still, I take it this is still information you can use.”

“Yes, this is all useful. I’m sure I can find someone in here to help me fill in the blanks, if I need to.” He replied, closing the file and sliding it back across the table. “Nice work, Mr Donovan.” 

The guards opened the door behind him and walked in. Their time was over.

“I guess we’ll talk again tomorrow.” Wilson said, getting up from his seat and letting the guard cuff him again.

“Same time as always, Mr. Fisk.” Donovan smiled, putting the file back into his bag and standing up as his client was led out of the room.

Wilson managed to sneak a look at a clock as the guard led him back into his cell block. He still had about an hour until curfew, it was more than enough time. 

Once the cuffs were off, he headed to the library, and like Wilson had thought, there the man was, quietly reading a book on the corner.

Other inmates rarely bothered him - whether that was the man had assisted them multiple times or another reason entirely, Wilson didn’t know. He hated that. Of course, he was managing, but Murdock making sure he had no assets like he did last time surely made things a bit more difficult.

Perhaps the man was just respected - he had, after all, provided multiple weapons to many criminals in the city. Weapons that could not only do a lot more damage when needed, but could be used against the likes of the Avengers if it came to it. Wilson had to respect that, too.

“Mr Toomes, is it?” Wilson asked as he approached him.

Toomes barely even acknowledged him until he spoke, and even then it took him a moment to look up from his book.

“Yeah. Can I help you?” Was his response.

“Wilson Fisk.” He held out a hand. 

“Yeah, I know.” Toomes took his hand. “Like I said, can I help you?” He repeated the question, calmly.

“I just figured, it’s a bit… odd we’ve never ran into each other. As I understand it, we both ran… quite successful business in our own neighborhoods. Perhaps, if we had… joined forces we wouldn’t be in our current..  _ predicaments _ .”

“You tried.” He replied. “To get us to join forces. A pal of yours in glasses came to see me and my crew a few years back, offering us a bunch of fancy perks if we joined you.”

That caught him by surprise. He had tried to get many crime lords to join his empire, the more he could unite, the more powerful he would be. Of course, not all of them agreed. The Stokes were an example of it, they had already enough power that they didn’t think they needed his aid. The Ranskahov brothers, on the other hand, had no choice  _ but _ to put their faith on him. Wesley rarely told him when their offer hadn’t been successful, something that Wilson had appreciated.

“I refused.” Toomes continued before Wilson could ask the question himself. “I didn’t want to help a man who wouldn’t even show me his face and had a little lap dog doing everything for him.”

“Well, you can’t blame a man for being careful. You never know who you can trust these days.”

“I guess not.” He stood up from his seat. “If that will be all, Mr Fisk… I need to go.” 

He started walking away, but he barely took two steps before Wilson spoke again. 

“We’re not so different, you know.” He said, and Toomes turned back towards him. “Much like you, a masked vigilante is the reason I’m here. And, much like you…” He took a step ahead so he and Toomes were face to face. “I have family I’d like to protect. Refresh my memory, yours would be in… Oregon, right? Since your arrest?”

Toomes clenched his jaw. Of course, knowing who Wilson Fisk was also meant knowing his reputation. It was good to know he was still feared, even behind bars.

“Is that a threat?” Toomes asked. “Are you threatening my family?”

“I have no interest in hurting your family, Mr Toomes, I assure you.” Wilson said. “It  _ would _ , however, be in their best interest if we helped one another.”

“What do you want?”

Wilson smiled. “I guess you’ve heard your old friend Spider-Man has been… all over the news lately. I’ve heard around here you might be of great value to the case.”

“What is in it for you?” Toomes asked. “I thought the nutjob in Hell’s Kitchen was the one that put you in here.”

“He did. But both he and I know I don’t intend on spending the rest of my life locked in here, and  _ when _ I leave, I’d like him out of my way. Helping exposing who Spider-Man is, that’s simply… a means to an end.”

“I don’t know who Spider-Man is, I told that to everyone in here that came asking about it.” The man answered. “If I did, I wouldn’t just reveal it to some bullshit website like the Daily Bugle. He’d never live long enough for it to even be speculation.”

"Oh, I'm sure." Wilson replied. "But you see, I managed to track one of your old…  _ associates _ . He says something different. He says you told him exactly where to find our insect friend so he wouldn't follow you. That sounds like information you wouldn't have access to if you are telling me the truth." 

"Well, he's an idiot." The man said. "And so are you, if you believe him."

With that, Toomes left the room. Perhaps would just take a little longer than he'd anticipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, thank you very much for reading and supporting my fic! 
> 
> Thank you very much for kudos and don't forget to leave a comment, if you can, I love reading your reactions. 
> 
> Seee you guys next week!


	8. Chapter 8

Matt had refused to admit, even to Foggy, how much Ben Donovan's presence had actually affected him. He knew they were bound to run into Donovan again, either while dealing with Fisk again or on a separate case. 

Of course, knowing it was coming didn’t make things any easier. Donovan would have had his reasons to take this case, and whatever they were, neither Matt nor Foggy were eager to find out. Hopefully the case wouldn’t drag on for much longer and it would all be over soon. Preferably before Donovan could actually do anything.

“He could still have something,” Foggy commented as he and Matt exited the building after the third meeting. “There’s no way he’s  _ still _ playing the ‘war against fake news’ card if he doesn’t have something up his sleeve.”

They had only one meeting left, and judging by how Donovan wasn’t already trying to argue a settlement, Foggy had a point.

“I thought you were the optimistic one.” Matt commented.

“Well, right now, I’m being the realistic one! Peter getting exposed like that is bad enough, the last thing he needs is the same thing happening to one of his lawyers.”

“Well, it won’t. There’s no way Donovan has anything on Peter, he would’ve brought it up at this point.” Matt couldn’t say he really believed that. Whether or not he would’ve brought it up, Donovan surely had something up his sleeve. “Besides, if he was gonna tell everyone who I am he would’ve done by now.”

Foggy sighed. “Maybe. Or maybe he’s waiting to do it in court in front of a judge, jury and everything, right before asking for a mistrial and get us disbarred. Can’t wait for that!”

“Come on, Fisk would never let him do that.” Matt replied.”And you won’t get disbarred! I will. Then you’ll just struggle to get another job ever again.”

Foggy laughed. “What do you mean struggle? Theo said I can join him at the butcher shop whenever I need to! You’ll be the one struggling, Mr  _ I-Put-On-a-Devil-Suit-and-Beat-People-Up _ . There’ll be no butcher shop job for you.”

Matt laughed. “Well, I could always join the Avengers. I hear they’re low on staff these days.”

“Well, it’ll be hard to join them if you’re in prison.”

“Hey, Mr Murdock!” Peter called behind them, thankfully saving Matt from coming up with a reply to Foggy’s comment.

“Alright, you should go talk to you student, maybe tell him how screwed we are.” Foggy said. “I’ll get us a cab.”

“Hey, kid.” Matt said as Peter caught up to him. “What’s up?”

“Hi, man.” Peter said. “Where is Mr Nelson going?”

“Getting a cab. You need to talk to him too?”

“No, no. Uhm, it’s about that Luke Cage drug shipment thing that guy talked about the other day. That’s today, right?”

“Oh… yeah, it is. 8pm, as far as we know.” Matt replied.

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that Peter remembered it, he had been there when they got that information, after all. 

“You’re going there to stop them, right? Do you need help? I-I can come with you!”

“Yeah, sure! I suppose some help could be nice.” Matt shrugged. “If you want to, we can meet there.”

“Cool! I-I gotta go now, but I’ll see you later. Bye, Mr Murdock!” And, with that, he ran back to his aunt.

Foggy wasn’t too happy to hear Peter was joining Matt to take down drug dealers.

“He’s a kid!” He said as they arrived at their office. “You can’t drag him into your… masked crusader, make the city a better place campaign. I’ve seen how many times it nearly got you killed, Peter doesn’t need to lay on his floor bleeding half to death, that’s the last thing the kid needs right now.”

“Come on, he’s dealt with much worse than a few drug dealers.” Matt assured him. “Also, the kid can handle himself, he’ll be fine.”

Matt had to admit, though, his concerns weren’t much different. Logically, Matt knew drug dealers would be nothing compared to even half of what he knew Peter had dealt with since he became Spider-Man, but he couldn't help it- he definitely didn't want to put Peter in danger, regardless of how much he'd faced in the past. 

"You can handle yourself too, but it never stopped you from ending up half dead in some dumpster." Foggy sighed. "At least make sure that doesn't happen to him. We have enough of that going around."

Matt was confident enough he could do at least that much, but it didn't make him feel any better as 8pm got closer and he put on the suit to meet Peter at the docks. 

To his surprise, the kid was already there. There was no sign of any drug deal going on anywhere near him, but they still had about ten minutes to work on that.

"You're early." Matt said. 

Peter's heartbeat picked up for a moment as he turned towards him. 

"Oh, hey! Yeah, I- I was in the neighborhood. Figured it would be nice to not be late for once." The boy replied. 

Matt chuckled. "Did you find anything yet?" 

"Uhm… no. That guy has been walking around for a bit but I think he just works here.”

Matt nodded. "I'm pretty sure I know where they might be. Come on."

Matt had been taking down criminal organization at the docks for way too long to know the general area where they'd operate. It was further south, where there weren't as many guards or employees walking around. Whether it was pure coincidence or bribery, Matt couldn't be sure, but at least it was consistent enough for him to know roughly where to go every time.

Surely enough, it didn't take long for Peter to spot someone walking that way, and soon after they found a group gathering around one of the shipping containers. 

"They're meeting  _ in _ there." Peter said. "There can't be that many of them, right?"

"Yeah, I guess not. Can you hear them?"

Peter paused, Matt assumed he was trying to focus and pick up anything. “Yeah, barely. They’re far, and inside the container, my hearing isn’t  _ that _ good.”

Matt nodded. His problem was more about the echo inside the shipping container rather how far they actually were from it.

“Well, can you hear what they’re saying?” He asked.

“Uhm, can’t yo--… Alright.” Peter shifted his position nervously, clearing his throat. “H-hold on.” 

Peter went quiet, Matt assumed, to focus on what was being said inside the container. He did the same.

“This all you got?” One of them said. “The batch we gave you was worth much more than this. What happened?”

“Look, Dave, it’s been a tough week, alright?” Another fearful voice replied. “I-I couldn’t sell it all, you… you know how it is, right?”

Dave sighed. “It’s what you said last month, Reggie. It’s starting to sound like bullshit to me.”

“C’mon, man, i-it’s true! I’d never lie to you!”

“Alright, then what happened to the rest of the stuff?” The man asked. “You said you couldn’t sell it all, right? What did you do to the rest?”

No response. 

“Yeah, see? That’s what I thought. You better find a way to pay up the shit you used, Reggie. The boss won’t be happy to know what happened. You know what happened to the last guy who slipped up that many times?”

For the second time, Reggie remained silent. 

“Yeah, neither do I.” The first guy said. “Guy disappeared. Between you and me, I don’t think he just got sent to somewhere nice on vacation, you know.” He added. “Anyway, what about the rest of you, idiots? Anyone else doesn’t have the money to pay for the shit you took?”

Peter summed it all up out loud to Matt, accurately enough to show he had been able to listen to most of the conversation. 

“So, uhm… who do you think the  _ boss _ is?” He asked.

“No idea.” Matt replied. He definitely wasn’t looking forward for a new crime boss going around, and he definitely wasn’t looking forward to find out who it was and stop him. “I guess we’ll find out sooner or later.”

Peter nodded. “Do we just barge in? We need information from those guys, right?”

Matt nodded.

“Alright, let’s go!” Peter started getting up, but Matt stopped him.

“Wait! They have guards outside. Four. Armed.” He said. “We need a plan.”

“Well, what do you suggest.”

Matt examined the container, until he found an electric current coming from it. He couldn’t tell for sure where it led, but surely it was lighting up the inside of the container. Surely that was something they could use to their advantage, especially considering the only lights outside were few and far between.

He tilted his head towards Peter. “You think you can handle yourself in the dark?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so. Why?”

“I got an idea."

The lights inside went out. 

If it not for the sound of the current breaking, Matt was sure the protests from inside the shipping container were clear enough to give it away.

“What the f—?” Dave said. “Reggie, get out there, see what's going on!"

Reggie's heartbeat picked as he got called out and he quickly turned to open the door and check outside. He barely made it one step before he got hit in the head with Daredevil’s billyclub.

"Shit!" Dave exclaimed as Reggie fell unconscious. "The Devil's here! Everyone out! Now! He'll kick our asses if we try fighting him in here!"

_ They're learning, _ Matt thought to himself as he leaped from the shipping container he was standing on to get to the ground. 

Most of the lowlife dealers didn't have guns on them, and immediately fled the second Matt landed in front of them. He didn't care much for now, they wouldn’t have the information he was after.

"Bunch of useless pieces of shit!" Dave murmured and stepped out of the container himself, pointing at gun at Matt. "Don't take another step, man! I'll mess you up, I'm not kidding!"

His heart seemed like it was going to beat out of his chest, his hands were shaking. Matt didn’t doubt his claim simply because he was panicked enough to shoot blindly if Matt did try anything, maybe even get a couple of lucky hits. Matt couldn’t risk it.

He threw his billy club at the ground, it bounced and hit Dave’s hand, throwing his gun far from his reach. While he was still too confused to react, Matt ran to him and immobilized his arm.

No one had shot him yet, which meant Peter was doing a good job of distracting and webbing up the guards. As he shifted his focus, he could hear the kid swinging around, giving them something to worry about instead of paying attention to what was going on near the shipping container. That was a good sign.

Matt started talking. "I'll ask you some questions now. You better answer them. Don't even  _ think _ about lying. Are we clear, Dave?"

He nodded. 

"Luke Cage. Are you working for him?"

"N-No" He replied. "Cage's got nothing to do with this. He doesn't even let drugs into Harlem anymore, everyone knows this!"

"Then why are you using his name?" 

"I-I don't know, man! I swear! I'm just here to redistribute it all, The last thing I wanted was to piss the guy off! They made me!!"

"Who?" 

Before Dave could answer, a gunshot interrupted their conversation. Matt froze, desperately trying to locate Peter. 

Before he could, there was another one, followed by a throbbing pain on his midsection.

Dave.  _ Fuck _ . 

He had been hiding a gun on a holster on his ankle, and the gunshot had given him enough of a distraction to use it. 

Matt should've heard it, he should have taken care of it. Instead, now, he had been shot, and was running away, leaving Matt with barely any more information than before. At least he was lucky enough that Dave decided to run instead of sticking around to finish the job, Matt doubted he could've done anything if that was the case.

Matt fell to the ground. Moments later, he heard someone approaching him. 

"Oh, no, no, no…" They said. As they got closer, Matt immediately recognized that heartbeat. It was Peter. 

Thank God, the kid was fine.

"Holy shit! Mr M-- Daredevil, I-I'm so sorry, I-- this is my fault!" Peter babbled, crouching next to Matt. He felt a hand pressed against his wound, trying to stop the blood flow as Peter continued murmuring to himself.

He was crying. Matt could hear it in his voice. He wanted to say something, assure him he would be fine, that it hadn't been his fault. He couldn't gather enough energy to even make out was Peter was saying, let alone say anything himself.

The little he had left he was harnessing in reaching for his pocket and get his burner phone. 

"Maggie." He managed, pressing to burner to the kid's free hand. "Get Maggie."

With that, he fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol I'm sorry guys :(
> 
> As usual, thank you very much for reading, as always, your kudos are comments are much appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guy, bear with me here because this is a long one. 
> 
> Also a very sad one so I do apologize in advance lol.
> 
> Quick disclaimer: I don't suffer from or know anyone who suffers from PTSD. I did my best to research in the time I had, but I don't promise this is accurate, especially since this is the first time I write anything related to it. I'm not trying to make light of it.
> 
> And with that happy note, here's the new chapter! I hope you guys enjoy.

In Peter’s defense, he wasn't meant to be spotted.

He didn't have Matt's fancy senses, he couldn't tell when someone was about to shoot him. Thank God for the Peter Tingle!

He managed to dodge the bullet and quickly disarm the last guard, webbing him up high on one of the shipping containers. That was all of them. Hopefully, Matt would be wrapping up with that Dave guy and they could maybe leave and hopefully go get some food.

That's when he heard the second gunshot. It couldn't be from any of the guards he was in charge of. Even if any of them had a knife to cut himself out of his webbing before it dissolved, it would take much longer, and they were all way above the ground. There had to be another one Peter had missed. 

Peter quickly ran towards the main area, where the sound had come from, and seeing Matt laying on the floor, a gunshot wound to his stomach turned Peter's whole world upside down. 

He wasn't a stranger to wounds, of course. As Spider-Man, he'd seen more of them than he would ever want to, both on people he saved and, especially, on himself. The wound or the blood wasn't what threw him off. 

The location of it was. The  _ type  _ of wound was. 

"Oh, no, no, no…" He approached the vigilante, his trembling hands reaching to put pressure on the wound. "Holy shit! Mr M-- Daredevil, I-I'm so sorry, I-- this is my fault!"

He didn't reply. Peter could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't know what to do! But at the same time, he knew he couldn't just sit there and wait for help to arrive. 

Even if both he and Matt weren't high profile vigilantes the NYPD would love to get their hands on, waiting hardly ever helped, at least in Peter's experience. 

_ "Someone call 911!"  _ Peter heard his own voice crying, echoing through the street as some people gathered to see what had happened. All Peter could do was hope to lower the blood flow until an ambulance arrived. 

By the time it did, it was already too late. 

Matt pulled him back to the present, handing him a burner phone.

"Maggie." Was all he said, and before Peter could say anything else, he passed out.

He didn't know who Maggie was, or what she could possibly do to help, but doing anything right now that could reverse the situation was definitely a better alternative than sitting there the whole night waiting to get arrested, so he webbed up the wound to free his other hand and started going through the burner's contact list.

He wasn't going to let this happen again. He couldn't lose anyone else.

To his frustration, all of the names were saved only as initials. _C,_ _D, J, F, K, L, M, _and so on. 

He understood the reason, of course, in the chance the burner ended up in the wrong hands, but Peter would have appreciated a lot more if he had been handed a phone he could decode. 

He went to the M contact and called it, hoping  _ Maggie _ was what it stood for.

"Hello?" A woman answered. 

"Is… is this Maggie?"

"It is. Who are you?"

"I-I'm-- this is Spider-Man." He replied. "I'm friends with Daredevil."

There was silence on the other end for a moment. "Is he okay?"

"No. No, he's-- he got shot. He got shot and he told me to call you and I don't know what to do, please, can-- can you help him?" He babbled, not even thinking before he spoke, depositing all his hope in this random woman he never even met. 

She apparently had heard of him, or Peter sounded desperate enough, because she didn't question him further before saying. "St Clinton church, get in through the back. Try to get here as fast as you can, I'll get everything ready."

Peter hung up the phone, suddenly feeling determined. Matt would be fine, Peter would see to that. He wouldn't lose anyone else. He  _ couldn't _ . 

He pulled out his phone to look up where St Clinton Church was-- yes, he did realize he probably should have asked Maggie before hanging up. Just like his luck would have it, it was far. At least far if he were to carry Matt all the way there, making sure the man didn't fall to his death.

He could hear police sirens approaching. He didn't have much time. Commiting what he could to the way to St Clinton to memory, he picked up Matt to leave.

Carrying him was the easy part. That was what his super strength was for. Swinging and doing usual Spider-Man things was the problem. It had been hard enough to hold MJ while swinging, and she had been holding onto him then. 

The best Peter could do was climb one of the nearest buildings and make his way through the rooftops, saving the swinging for when he absolutely had to. 

It took him twice as long as that distance normally would and was really awkward, but eventually he made it.

He barely landed on the back alley when the door swung open. A young woman dressed as a nun and peeked out, quickly spotting Peter, which wasn’t hard, considering he was just standing there like an idiot without knowing what to do. 

"Oh, dear." She said. She didn't sound like the woman on the phone, which put Peter a bit on edge. "Come in, Sister Maggie is waiting for you downstairs. Uhm, do you need--" She added hesitantly, pointing at Matt. 

"No, I'm good." Peter answered and followed her inside. 

Of course, having super strength and not being on air anymore, carrying Matt wasn't a problem, but that wasn't the only reason why he'd refused help. Matt was in this situation because of him, the least he could do was carry him to safety himself.

The nun led him through the church, and down some flights of stairs. The further down they went , the more suspicious he became, but he hardly had any other choice other than following her. 

"Sister Maggie, he's here." The nun said, and a second nun stepped from behind a shelf. 

Unlike the first one Peter had met, Maggie seemed to be getting ready for bed when Peter contacted her. She was wearing a gown and didn't have veil on. Peter wondered if he was breaking any Catholic rules by seeing a nun like that.

"Bring him here." She said, in a tone that Peter would have obeyed even if helping Matt wasn't in his immediate interest. 

Maggie pointed at a bed near the wall, and Peter rushed carefully place Matt there. 

"You can leave." Maggie told the younger nun. "Make sure no one comes down here, and don't tell anyone about this, you hear me?"

"Yes, Sister Maggie. If you need anything, let me know." 

With that, she waved goodbye to Peter and left the way they came in. 

"What is this?" Maggie asked, pointing at the webbing over Matt's wound. 

"Uhm-- webbing." Peter replied, pointing at shooter on his wrist. "I used it to stop the bleeding to carry him here." He fiddled around his backpack, quickly finding the recipient with the remover and handing it to her.. "Here, this will make it dissolve faster."

"Smart." Maggie commented, reaching to remove Matt's mask. "I know who he is." She assured Peter, before he could protest-- which he was indeed about to do. "It's not the first time he's come here for help."

Peter stood by her side as she worked on Matt's injury, making sure to stay out of her way, and doing his best to hand her whatever equipment she needed when she asked for them.

Soon enough, Matt was all patched up and, as far as Peter could tell, stable. A weight seemed to be lifted from Peter's shoulders, and he finally let out a breath he'd be holding ever since he saw Matt injured on the floor. 

Maggie had knelt by Matt's bedside, and started saying prayers. Peter silently walked away, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. He found a spot on the floor and sat down, his back to the wall. He removed his mask, taking deep breaths. He knew Maggie was still down there and she wouldn't be praying for Matt forever, but breathing under the mask had become harder and harder since he left the docks. 

_ He's fine. _ Peter told himself.  _ He won't die. He  _ can't  _ die.  _

It was only a few minutes before the doctor came back. "Parker?" He called. 

Peter and May practically jumped from their seats. They hadn't been in the waiting room for very long, but as far as he was concerned, it had been a lifetime until they got any sort of news. Peter's hands were still covered in blood because the whole time he hadn't been able to bring himself to go anywhere to do anything about it. It had been  ** _his_ ** fault. It something happened, it was only fair that the blood reminded him of it. He deserved it. 

"We did all we could." The doctor said. "Unfortunately, it was already too late by the time he got here. I'm afraid Mr Parker couldn't make it." 

Peter felt his whole world crumble around him. Part of him had known that was the case since the ambulance arrived, but it didn't prepare him in any way to actually receive the news. 

"I take it you're Spider-Man?" Maggie said, snapping him back to the present.

He jumped back to his feet. He hadn't even heard Maggie approach him. 

"I-Is he gonna be okay?" Was what he said in response. 

"Matthew will be fine. I've seen him survive much worse, don't worry." 

"Worse?!" Peter almost laughed. "He got shot! How much worse can it get?"

"He lost a lot of blood, but whoever shot him didn't have great aim. The damage could be a lot worse." The nun replied. "And as for how worse it can get, the first time he came to us, a building had collapsed on top of him, and he still made it. He's a stubborn one." 

That didn't really make Peter feel any better. 

"Are  _ you _ okay?" She asked. "Any injures I can help you with?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine." He replied, sliding back to the floor. It was almost unfair, how Matt got a bullet to his stomach while Peter walked out alright. 

“Well, in that case, you’re free to go. Get some rest. I’m sure at least that will do a lot of good for you.”

“I can’t!” Peter replied immediately. “I can’t, I-- I need to stay! I-I need to make sure he’ll be fine.”

“Don’t you trust my medical abilities?” Maggie asked. She didn’t sound offended, which was a good thing as it wasn’t what Peter meant at all.

“N-No, it’s… it’s not that. Matt got hurt because of me!” He explained. “I-I need to make sure he’ll be alright. It’s my responsibility!”

"How so?" She didn't sound angry. She should be. 

"I-I was supposed to watch his back! I had to take care of the guards, while he got information. I-I screwed up, I didn't do it right, and he got shot!" He let it all out in a single breath. 

He didn't care he had just met Maggie and had no idea if he could even trust her. She had already seen his face, Peter shouldn't be telling her anything more than he already had, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to care. Matt had almost died tonight because of him, anything else could wait.

Maggie's response was a sigh. "Well, I'm sure  _ something _ must have happened for him to get shot, he really doesn’t let that sort of thing happen too often. But whatever it is, I doubt it could be anyone's fault but the shooter. And it’s definitely not your responsibility. Matthew will tell you the same thing."

Peter didn’t answer. He knew Matt wouldn’t be accusing him of anything when he woke up, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t Peter’s fault. If he had taken proper care of the guards, none of this would be happening, after all.

“If you really want to stay, I guess I can get a bed set up for you to spend the night.” Maggie said. “I meant it when I said some rest will do a lot of good for you. If you’re anything like Matthew, I know for a fact you don’t get enough of that.”

Peter nodded. He doubted he would be able to get any sleep, but at least Maggie hadn’t tried to stop him from staying-- he had been ready to argue over it if that was what it took.

While she set up a makeshift bed for him, Peter stayed in the exact same spot. He felt like he should help, but he couldn't bring himself to stand up. The only thing he did do was pull out his phone to text May and let her know something had come up, and he'd be home late. Of course, it wasn't the truth, but it was easier than explaining what had actually happened and that he'd be spending the night in the basement of a church in Hell's Kitchen. He could deal with her questions later. 

Maggie came back minutes later to tell him the bed was ready and to assure him no one would come downstairs while he and Matt were there, before wishing him a good night and going upstairs. 

It still took Peter a few minutes-- or maybe hours, he couldn't be sure, before he actually got up to get to his bed for the night. 

He took a look at Matt before anything else. The man looked fine enough, all things considered. Maggie had put a blanket over him, which meant Peter couldn't see his injury, and honestly that was a huge relief. It almost looked like Matt had just gone to sleep normally instead of passed out from blood loss.

He turned back to his own bed, which was really just a mattress on the floor with a blanket on it. Maggie had also left him a change of clothes, and Peter changed immediately. He did trust the nun when she said no one would be coming to the basement for the time being, but in the case anyone  _ did _ , he'd much rather explain why he was just some kid spending the night in a church basement than why  _ Spider-Man _ was spending the night in a church basement.

Peter had been sure he wouldn't be able to fall asleep. That he'd have the events of tonight playing over and over in his head and wondering what he could have done differently until morning.

Instead, his exhaustion took the better of him mere minutes after his head hit the pillow, and as his luck would have it, he wasn't in for a peaceful night.

It was late. Peter should be home, doing his homework, playing video games, like a normal kid. 

Of course, that had been the case a couple of days ago. But he wasn't a normal kid anymore. He could stick to walls, lift a car above his head, there was nothing that could stop him. 

It was why he and Ben had just gotten into a huge argument just an hour ago, and why Peter was now walking around Queens instead of having dinner with his aunt and uncle. 

So what he'd missed a couple of classes? He was already more than familiar with most of what Midtown had to offer him. He rarely needed to pay attention when he did show up to class. He had been out doing much more valuable things than learning freshman year physics.

He was still lost in his thoughts when some guy bumped into him. He turned around briefly, as if to challenge Peter to do something, then continued to run when the boy had no reaction.

"Stop that guy!" Someone yelled behind him, running to catch up to the other man. "He took my phone! Hey, kid, can you help me out?" He asked as he ran past Peter.

Peter recognized him. Some prick who didn't want to help  _ him _ out earlier. 

What was it the guy refused to do again? Thinking back, Peter couldn’t even remember,

Something so insignificant, so small it seemed ridiculous that at the time Peter had been petty enough to shrug and say:

"Not my problem!"

The guy cursed and continued to run, still yelling to someone stop the mugger. 

Peter had been pretty pleased with himself for that. The guy probably deserved it, right? And he seemed like he had enough money to replace that phone soon enough, he would be fine. 

He continued his walk, until, minutes later, he heard a gunshot. The moment he did, his stomach dropped. He couldn't explain it, but he somehow  _ knew _ something terrible had happened. And not to just anyone. 

He ran in the direction the shot came from.

Peter woke up to two people talking. He started to panic, but soon recognized Matt's and Maggie's voices, talking quietly as to not wake up Peter. 

Instead of telling them he was awake, though, Peter remained lying down in the exact same position as their conversation went on. 

"He had a gun hidden on his ankle. It was a stupid mistake, I should've heard it, felt it." Matt said. 

Maggie sighed. "Maybe it's time you  _ actually  _ start being more careful. You won't always have someone to carry you all the way over here."

"Yeah, I know. It's just-- I got distracted, it won't happen again."

"You keep saying that, and yet you still keep ending up here." She sighed. "I need to go. You stay here until lunch, I need to check if you're really okay before I let you go anywhere." 

Peter heard the nun's steps echo through the basement as she went upstairs. 

"Morning." Matt told him, the second Maggie was out of earshot.

"Hey." Peter replied, sitting up on the mattress. "How did you know I--"

"Heartbeat." Matt answered. "Uhm, Maggie brought some food, if you're hungry." He pointed at a table near his bed that had a tray with coffee and some sandwiches on top of it.

The second he saw the food, Peter stomach growled and he immediately grabbed a sandwich. He hadn't eaten anything since late afternoon yesterday.

Matt didn't say anything while Peter ate, only continued drinking his coffee. 

"How are you doing?" Peter finally asked once he was done with his second sandwich, already eyeing the last one resting on the tray.

"I'm fine. Better." Matt replied. "You can have that, by the way."

"Oh, thank you." Peter said, reaching for the sandwich and taking a bite. There were a few moments while he chewed before he spoke again. "So, uh, who is she?" He asked, his mouth still full. "Maggie, I mean."

Matt paused. "You can trust her." Was his reply.

It wasn't what Peter asked, but judging by how Matt's expression changed was he heard the question, he figured it was better not to push it. 

"It wasn't your fault, you know." Matt said, after a few moments. "What happened last night."

Peter's stomach dropped. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Maggie had told Matt about that, but it didn't mean he was ready or wanted to talk about it.

"I-I mean… it kinda was, right? I was supposed to take care of the guards, while you talked to the Dave guy. I didn't do it right, so you got shot."

Matt shook his head. "None of the guards shot me. It was that Dave guy. There was a gunshot, I got distracted and he shot me."

"Oh." He said. He supposed it made more sense, but it didn’t really change much. "But the gunshot. It was because one of them saw  _ me _ ! I-I should've been more careful."

"Well, I should've been more careful and not get shot. I should know better than to let a gunshot distract me. If anything, it's  _ my _ fault that it happened." Matt tried to assure him. There were a few moments before he continued. "Are you alright?" He asked. "Maggie said you looked pretty shaken up last night."

Peter nodded, though he knew saying that he was fine would be a lie. Even with Matt now being fine and very much alive, he still couldn't shake the image of his uncle lying dead on the floor. It had already taken him months to stop thinking about it the first time around. "Yeah, it's just-- bad memories, you know?"

"You wanna talk about it?"

He really didn't. He never talked about it with anyone, the closest had been aunt May, and even then, he never confessed to what had actually happened the night Ben died. He wasn't sure how much talking about it would actually help, but maybe he did owe Matt an explanation, especially after the man trusted him with so much about his own life. 

"It's, uhm… it's about my uncle. He-- he died a few years ago."

"Yeah. Ben, right? Uh, Karen did some research on you and May, when we took your case." He added quickly, maybe sensing Peter shooting him a suspecting look. "What about him?"

"He got shot. W-When I saw you, last night, laying on the floor, bleeding, it… it reminded me of that." He explained, his voice breaking. "That… that was my fault too."

Matt frowned. "Why?"

"The guy who shot him, I… when the police came over to tell us about the investigation, t-they had a portrait of him. And it was a guy I didn't stop earlier. Not… not because I  _ couldn't.  _ I could, I just… didn't want to."

"You didn't have any way of knowing. It can't be your fault." Matt said.

"But that's the point, isn't it?" Peter snapped back. "I knew he was a bad guy, and I didn't stop him. If I knew he was gonna kill Ben, of course I would! But I didn't because I was selfish and then Ben paid the price!" 

Surprisingly, Matt didn't have an answer. In other circumstances, Peter would be pretty proud of himself for winning an argument with someone who argued for a living.

“You can’t change the past.” Matt finally said, after a few moments. “Maybe if you’d stopped that guy, your uncle would still be alive, maybe something else would’ve happened to him the day after and it would be all the same. Whatever the case, if he was anything like May, I don’t think he’d like to see you blaming yourself for what happened to him. Also, it really doesn’t do you any good, trust me.”

This time, Peter was the one who didn’t have an answer. He knew Matt was trying to help, and he appreciated that. But it was still hard to shake off that feeling, he doubted he ever would ever be able to.

Matt didn’t say anything else, so Peter took that opportunity to change the subject.

“Hey, did you get anything last night, then?” He asked “From Dave?”

Matt shook his head. “Not enough time.” He said, thankfully not objecting to Peter shifting the focus of the conversation.. “He did say Luke’s not with them. I was thinking we could pay him a visit. If he’s not on their side, he will probably help us. Some help might be nice.”

_ Especially from a bulletproof guy _ , Peter thought. 

That moment, his phone buzzed with a text from May, asking where he was. 

“Shoot! I gotta go.” He said, getting up from the mattress and grabbing his suit. “May’s worried. And I got homework.”

Matt nodded. “Be safe.”

Peter could comment on how he should be the one saying that, but chose not to and slipped into the bathroom to change back into the spidey suit.

“See you Monday, Matt!” He said as he grabbed his backpack to leave.

“See ya. Hey, Peter..” Matt called and Peter turned back to face him. “Thanks. For bringing me here.”

Peter offered him a smile. “Anytime, man.” He said, and turned around to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this was a long one lol.
> 
> Thank you very much for sticking all the way to the end, I hope the next few chapters won't be 5 years long!
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are much appreciated.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, yes, I am still alive and very much still want to finish this fic. Sorry for taking so long to update, guys, I've been extremely busy, and writer's block didn't help at all!
> 
> But I'm back! I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter!

"I'm just saying, it could do a lot for us," Foggy argued, for probably the fifth time that afternoon. "We won't be able to hold many of those clients if we keep working out of the back of the butcher shop. We need a new place." 

"You keep saying that like we can afford it." Karen replied, absentmindedly as she went through her files on Quetin Beck again. 

The trio had had the exact same argument at least once a day when their involvement in the Spider-Man case got more and more attention, bringing more and more clients to their doorstep. Or rather, Theo’s back door.

"Well, think of it as an investment!" It seemed to be one of Foggy’s favorite points. "We got a bunch of new clients, if even half of them stick around, and a good chunk of those actually pays us, we could afford it no problem. You gotta believe, Page!" 

“I  _ believe _ , I just wanna be able to pay Theo for rent this month first.” Karen replied. "Matt, what do you think?"

Matt shrugged. "Foggy has a point. It'll be easier to get clients if they aren't confused by a butcher shop when they try to come see us. But we don't have enough money." He added quickly as Foggy yelled 'see?'. "We'll need to actually keep those clients first. And, like you said, a good chunk of them need to actually  _ pay _ us first.”

"Pessimists! Both of you!" Foggy said, making Karen chuckle. "Look, my cousin is friends with a real estate agent. Let me talk to him, maybe we'll get something on a good deal. It can't hurt to try, right? Hey, Mrs Parker," Foggy called as the Parkers approached them. "What do you think? Should we get a new office?"

"Uhm…" Was May's reply, clearly caught off guard. "Sure! It'll be good for business." 

"Yeah, we can talk to Happy!" Peter weighed in. "He can help you guys!"

"See? Someone has a vision for the future!” Foggy said. “I should get you guys as my partners, not these two idiota!”

“Maybe you should.” Matt replied. “I mean, I have no vision at all.”

"So, what's the plan for today?" May interrupted as Karen and Peter let out a chuckle.

"We go all out." Was Matt's response. "Karen's here to show them all the evidence she gathered about Beck and the Bugle, show them why it's in their best interest that this doesn't go to trial."

"And you think they'll listen?" 

"Let's hope so." Foggy answered. "But we don't know. He might have something up his sleeve if he hasn't agreed to settle yet. Hopefully that won’t be the case and it can all be over today.”

At this point, neither Foggy nor Matt were too optimistic about the case being finished by the end of the day. Ben Donovan was many things, and smart was one of the main ones. He would know there was little chance of his side winning this case, unless he has something up his sleeve.

The group didn’t say anything else as they entered the building. Peter, on the other hand, caught up to Matt and Foggy as they walked.

"H-Hey, man!” He told Matt. “How are you feeling? Better?"

"Better?" Foggy questioned. "What do you mean 'better', what happened?"

Matt hadn't told Foggy about his gunshot wound. His friend worried enough, and, most of the time, there was no point in worrying him more, especially if Matt wasn’t injured too badly.

"Just… an accident the other night, it's fine." He told his friend. "And yeah, Peter, I'm feeling way better."

“ _ Accident _ ? What do you mean  _ accident _ ? How bad was it?  _ Maggie _ bad? Or, just  _ I-need-to-lay-down-on-my-couch-for-a-couple-of-hours _ bad?”

“Foggy, it’s  _ fine _ , alright, I promise! I’ll-- I’ll explain later. Peter saved me, I’m fine.” Matt answered.

Foggy didn’t seem too happy with the temporary explanation, but thankfully he let it slide for now.

Donovan and his assistant were already waiting in the conference room. They all took their seats in silence. Peter, as usual, sank as much as he could in his seat without falling from his chair. 

Foggy was the first one to speak.

"Alright. Why don't we cut this short, and you just tell us what you decided. That'll save us all a lot of time. Are you settling or are we moving this case forward?"

"The real question, Mr Nelson," Donovan replied. "Is what your client has decided. You see, we presented you time and time again with evidence that my client wants nothing more than to give the people in New York City with real and unfiltered news. The  _ truth _ , in other words.  _ Your _ client, on the other hand, has been repeatedly asking him to censor Mr Jameson’s news channel and what he has to report. In the current state of things, I don't imagine that will be seen in a positive light."

"Excuse me?" Matt intervened. "Your client's  _ real and unfiltered news _ exposed a teenager as superpowered superhero to millions of people. Our client isn't asking Mr Jameson to censor anything, just that he’s left alone and out of this."

"And to just maybe check their sources before publishing something that puts a minor in danger. Without even presenting any evidence to back up these claims." Foggy completed. "Tell me, how much of a positive light do you think a jury would see that?"

"Well, as far as I understand it, your side hasn't presented any evidence to prove what the Bugle said  _ isn't  _ true either." Donovan argued. "It's almost like you  _ can't  _ prove that Mr Parker isn't, in fact, Spider-Man."

"Yeah, the same way we can't prove I'm not Captain America, it doesn't mean anything." Foggy said. "We did present you with evidence that your guy was a liar, though, multiple times."

Karen slid her file across the table to Donovan. "In case you forgot, we decided to let you have another look." She said. "Quentin Beck. He was fired from Stark Industries a few years back. Before that, though, he helped develop a holographic system, Tony Stark himself even showed it off at MIT. You'll find that technology is very similar to what was reported to happen in London. If Mr Jameson's team had bothered to look at his priors before making the video live, I'm sure they could find all of this in under 30 minutes. Of course, his team didn't bother, did it?"

" _ Mysterio  _ is reported to be an interdimensional warrior. That's a report by SHIELD itself, the fact that he has a look alike on our world. Like Mr Nelson said, it means nothing. It's no difference than trying to prove he's Captain America, in his worlds. Or, perhaps, trying to prove Mr Murdock here is Hell's Kitchen's resident vigilante, Daredevil." 

Clearly, Donovan chose his words carefully, and he surely didn't miss the subtle ways that Peter's legal team reacted to them. Matt shifted in his seat, Foggy's heartbeat spiked, and Karen scoffed. Even Peter sat up a bit straighter in his seat. 

"None of it justifies putting an innocent person's life in danger." Matt said. "Reporting the news is one thing, wanting to be the first to publish something and skipping research to do so isn't the same."

"Well, pardon me, Mr Murdock, but your and your colleague keep insisting that young Mr Parker's life has been put in danger since the Daily Bugle's broadcast, but has there been any attempts on his life since then? For what we can see, he's in fact quite well. The incident hasn't even affected his grades in school, isn't that correct?"

Everyone turned their heads towards Peter, whose heartbeat spiked with all the sudden attention. 

"I-I…" He started, but May was quick enough to save the day. 

"Peter barely even leaves the house thanks to what Jameson did. He goes straight to school and straight back, we don't want to risk it. Jameson did that!"

"And you know very well this isn't about whether or not Mr Parker has ever been attacked." Foggy added. "It's about whether or not your client willfully and knowingly put his life in jeopardy for a headline. A jury will agree."

Donovan let out a sigh. For a moment, Matt could almost believe he was giving up and they'd reach some sort of agreement. Of course, that wasn't the case. 

"A jury will agree if you give them evidence of this  _ jeopardy _ you keep talking about." He said.

"Yeah, or evidence of whether Mr Parker is really a superhero that you keep going on about and never really proved it." Foggy cut him off.

"Well, it is possible that we have recently stumbled upon a witness who could prove our case." Donovan continued, and Matt heart Peter's heart spike in his chest again. “How’s your side looking?”

"Who?" The boy asked.

"Surely, despite whatever you may have on Mysterio's  _ possible _ identity, they couldn't ignore an eye witness to who Mr Parker really is." Donovan continued, ignoring Peter's question. 

"Well,  _ if _ you really have a witness, it sure is convenient that you didn't think to bring it up until now." Matt said.

Donovan smirked. "Well, this job is full of surprises, isn’t it?"

The Parkers headed to the Nelson, Murdock & Page offices after their last meeting with The Bugle's legal team. Needless to say, it hadn’t gone quite as they’d like it to.

Of course, a trial wasn’t the end of the world, especially since most of the odds were in their favor. Still, a witness to the Bugle’s side surely changed everything.

Foggy was doing his best to lighten the mood. 

"See, I'm telling you, imagine if we were sitting at a proper conference room instead of a moldy old storage room. Maybe we could have a couch on the corner, where we could properly react to this. I bet it wouldn’t even smell like meat!" He was saying, though no one was really paying attention. 

Peter had been pacing around the room, but suddenly stopped to rush to Matt’s desk.

"I-I think I know who the witness is." He blurted out, interrupting Foggy, who in turn stopped talking immediately in reaction to Peter's words. 

"Who?" Karen asked from her desk, sitting up straight as her hands hovered over there computer's keyboard, waiting for Peter's answer.

"T-Toomes. Adrian Toomes. He sold weapons. Like,  _ alien _ weapons, from the Incident.. I put him away a few years ago. A-And he knew. M-Maybe he wants to get back at me or something." The boy replied. 

His answer was followed by Karen rapidly typing on her computer, and May's own question. 

"Honey, that was years ago, why would he wait so long? Can't you think of anyone else?" 

"Yeah, and if he wants to get back at you, why do it as a witness on a case?" Foggy added. “I wouldn’t think that’s how those guys operate.”

"I think I know." Karen sighed. "Toomes was sent to Riker's. Can you guess where?"

"Cellblock D." Matt and Foggy replied in unison. Foggy let out a sigh.

"What's in cellblock D?" May asked. 

"Wilson Fisk." Matt said. 

Of course, it seemed like a long shot. Fisk had no reason to compel Toomes to testify for Donovan. Still, he had no reason to assist Frank Castle in his escape either, and he'd done so anyway. 

"He can't-- I mean, he wouldn't right?" Peter said as he turned to Matt. "Like, why would he? Also, there’s your d--  _ thing _ ." Peter was quick to correct himself, shooting a glance at his aunt. 

"My deal with Fisk doesn't extend to you.” Matt answered, at this point not too concerned that May heard it. “As far as we know, he doesn't even know we're your lawyers, he's just doing Donovan a favor." Though, he doubted Donovan hadn't told his client that the lawyers that put him in prison were now involved in another case of his. "That is, if Toomes is their guy in the first place. Are you sure there isn't anyone else?"

"For the bad guys, no. Happy said they’re keeping an eye on Mysterio’s team since the broadcast, and they’re all out of the country, and I don’t think Toomes told anyone in his team or some of them would’ve tried to come after me. And I-I don't think any of the Avengers would do this, so…"

"Doesn't matter who it is. It matters what  _ we _ do now." Matt said. "For starters, if it's really this Toomes guy, we'll need a strong witness of our own." 

"We can get Ned. O-Or MJ, they were there, they know what happened!" Peter suggested.

"If Donovan asks them if your Spider-Man, and he will, and they lie under oath, they could get in serious trouble." Foggy replied. "Also, they're too close to you, the best they could do is be character witnesses, we need something better than that." 

"How long do we have to find someone?" May asked. 

"We'll meet with Donovan and the judge later this week, we'll only know then." Foggy answered. "We might have a month, or a week. That prick will try to make it happen as soon as possible if he thinks he has a shot." 

"We'll let you know." Matt said. "When we do, we can talk strategy. Until then…" he shrugged. 

The Parkers left soon after, though Peter stayed behind until the last minute to talk to Matt. 

"H-Hey, Mr M-- Matt, what...what happens if they win? Do I go to jail?" He asked. 

"Only if they can prove you're Spider-Man  _ and _ that you killed all of those people. One of those just isn't true, so… unlikely." Matt answered. 

"Can they prove I'm Spider-Man, though?"

"Maybe. Depending on who that witness is." He said, though he knew that wasn't very assuring. "Listen, Peter, don't worry about any of that, okay? Foggy and I will figure this out. You'll be fine. That's a promise." 

Peter nodded, and May called him as she reached the car. Peter followed her. Matt and Foggy stood outside Nelson's Meats until the car made its first turn. 

"What do you think?" Matt asked and they made their way back through the butcher shop to their small office space.

Foggy let out a sigh. "I think we're screwed." He said. "At best, they have a strong witness and win the case. At worst, he reveals to everyone who you are and calls for a mistrial."

"We should make sure that doesn't happen, then."

"How?!" Foggy asked.

Matt took a deep breath.

"Maybe it's time I give Fisk another visit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I'm not sure how soon (or late lol) I'll be able to upload again. I'll be moving states soon and that surely will take a lot of my time. On the bright side, it might mean I'll be writing a lot to get my mind off things too! 
> 
> Either way, this story is still going strong, I'm just dealing with some minor setbacks!
> 
> Thank you very much for reading, and as always, don't forget to leave kudos and comments, they always make my day!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is me officially giving up on keeping a regular-ish schedule. Between moving and job hunting it's literally impossible. So I do apreciate those of you who are sticking around for this. I do have every intention of finishing this fic, it will just happen much later than I originally intended lol
> 
> Anyway, here's a new chapter! It took me so long to even start writing it because I kept going back and deleting everything because I wasn't satified with what was coming out, and eventually I just changed my original plan and this is what came out of it, and honestly I'm pretty happy with the result!
> 
> ps: I know some of you haven't followed or watched the NMCU shows, which is completely understandable, so I did my best to include all the information you need within the chapter itself. As a big fan of the NMCU shows, I wanted to include as much of it as I could in this (especially since I love the idea of Peter meeting and teaming up with the Defenders), so I definitely should make sure those of you who aren't familiar with it have the whole picture.  
That being said, watch the NMCU shows if you can, guys, they are very good!

New York was never quite sure where it stood concerning heroes and vigilantes. At times, they were loved by everyone, many would say they did more than the actual police, who more often than not were corrupted by dirty politicians or evil philanthropists. Crime rates would go down, civilians would be happy and relieved to spot one of them walking around.

Other times, things weren’t going as smoothly. Dealing with criminals every single day was bound to end badly sooner or later-- someone got caught in the crossfire, public property was destroyed, sometimes they were even framed. In those instances, people weren’t so nice. The media would drag their name with everything they got, people would run and hide just as they would with any other criminals and the Sokovia Accords were brought up again as a protective measure.

Now was one of those times. 

It all started with Mysterio and the video he sent to the Daily Bugle framing Spider-Man for murder. It only escalated everyday the city woke up to an entire gang shot down and left behind by the Punisher, and when some poor unfortunate snitch Daredevil was left dangling off the roof by his ankle.

Things really reached its peak, though, when the news about the Luke Cage branded drugs were made public, and he was suddenly the one under fire, more so than anyone else. Truth to be told, there had been very few occasions recently when Luke  _ wasn’t _ under fire. It was a surprise inheritance he got alongside Harlem’s Paradise, a place that had been previously owned by a crime family for generations. 

It surely didn’t help that, only a few days later, news surfaced of Mike Bennet, a 21 year old student of Columbia University getting caught in the crossfire between rival gangs when things had gone south in their deal. One of the gangs had tons of the Luke Cage heroin drugs hidden in their cars.

  1. Jonah Jameson had a field day.

“The man’s name is connected to a murder and stamped all over heroin being sold all over the city!” The reporter said-- or, more accurately, yelled at the camera. “Make no mistake, people, this is  _ not _ a coincidence! This is hardly the first time Cage’s name is involved with any sort of illegal activity! You may recall the Daily Bugle’s  _ intense _ coverage of the accusations against him on behalf of destroying public property and the murder of a police officer, not to mention his  _ trial _ after it was discovered he was in fact Carl Lucas, a fugitive from Seagate Penitentiary. His track record definitely shows he’s just as much of a  _ menace _ as any of the other psychos running around our city taking the law into their own hands, and the type who can’t be stopped like any the scum he usually associates himself with!”

“Think on the bright side, at least he’ll leave you alone until this whole thing with Cage is over.” MJ commented as she sat on the couch next to Peter.

This was what their dates had boiled down to since the Bugle broadcast exposing Spider-Man. It was less than ideal, but there were worse ways to spend their time together than cuddling up on the couch and watching movies-- though switching those movies for the Bugle’s latest video often got close.

“Yeah, but he won’t leave Mr Cage alone until then.” Peter replied. “Daredevil got to interrogate one of the drug dealers a while back.” Of course MJ knew Peter been investigating the drugs-- and it was hard to come up with another reason why he’d been hanging out with Daredevil without putting Matt’s identity on the line anyway. “He said Luke has nothing to do with this. Whoever’s doing this wants to make him look bad.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not about the drugs,” MJ said, putting her phone away. “People are scared of him. It doesn’t matter that crime rates went way down in Harlem since he took over or whatever it was, all they see is a big, scary, black man they can’t shoot down. JJ is taking advantage of that, I’m sure he’ll be back to trashing Spider-Man once people move on.”

Honestly, turning to the worst in people to profit off the situation seemed low even for the Daily Bugle, but Peter couldn’t argue against that. JJ loved to find anything to complain and yell about in his videos, and since Spider-Man was mostly off limits since the lawsuit, save for reporting what the hero had been up to here and there, it made enough sense the reporter would target that hate at some other famous hero in the city. Luke’s current situation and just plain racism made him the perfect target.

"So you agree? You think Luke's got nothing to do with this?" Peter asked.

She shrugged. "With the drugs, no. Doesn't seem like his style. I don't know about any other stuff."

"What do you mean?" He sat up straight to face his girlfriend.

MJ considered it for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "Well, there's both sides of the coin. JJ and the rest of the press might be racist and try to discredit what Cage is doing, but that doesn't mean he's innocent in all of this. He's already bulletproof, and he's apparently took over crime in Harlem. Of course we can't believe what JJ is saying, but we can't just pretend Luke is an all around good guy. He did agree to do it. Regardless of what he did after he took over, good or bad, he still chose to be a crime boss."

Peter considered her words. "So, you think Daredevil's wrong? About Luke, a-and everything?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know the guy, but you said those two worked together before, right? Maybe… they still are, and Daredevil's trying to cover his ass. I mean, how do we know we can trust him? He's not like… you know,  _ you _ . People are scared of him more than anything else, and there were a bunch of times he was on the news for things like blowing up buildings and attacking the New York Bulletin, even a church that one time."

Peter was already shaking his head. "No, no, look, he--" He knew MJ was trying to help, but he couldn't afford to think this way. He  _ knew _ Matt, the man had proven time and time again that he wanted to help. If Peter let Beck get into his head and make him question the intentions of everyone he met, he would go insane. "He was framed. F-for those things. Beck framed me for everything  _ he _ did, right? It's the same thing! If he wanted to kill me, he would've tried by now, he wouldn't-- he wouldn't be training me, or-"  _ Or helping me keep my identity a secret _ , he thought. "He's one of the good guys." 

_ He  _ has _ to be. _

MJ sighed. Peter had the feeling she didn't totally believe him. He couldn't blame her, she  _ did _ have a point, after all.

"Well, maybe he's just biased." She concluded. "He met Luke before he went all kingpin, right? Maybe he thinks Luke is the same guy he met then. But power changes people. Especially men."

Peter nodded, letting out a breath. That made sense. Matt did say he didn't catch up to Luke in a while. 

"Well… power didn't change me." He finally said, a small smile on his face.

"Of course not." MJ suppressed a smile. "There's not enough power that can get the dork out of you." She said, leaning in to kiss him.

The glasses still didn't quite look right on him. 

_ You'll grow into them _ , May had said. 

Given what happened almost immediately after he just got it, Peter figured that was still a long way away. So he chose to keep them in their case and hid them in the bottom of his underwear drawer the second he got home.

So, really, he couldn't say he thought that taking EDITH to Harlem's Paradise was the best idea, but, if MJ was right about Luke, Peter figured he should be doing an investigation on his own, in case Matt really was too biased to believe Luke had gone to the dark side. EDITH would allow him to find anything suspicious during the time he was there, like a secret weapon bunker, or, well… drugs. Very James Bond. Peter couldn't wait until he told Ned about it. 

Peter wasn’t sure what he expected to find when he and Matt reached Harlem’s Paradise. He’d done enough research on the place, and he’d seen pictures of the outside. In none of them he had seen a single police car parked outside, with half a dozen guards standing near the door looking scared for their lives.

EDITH was quick to do a quick background check on them. Peter wasn’t sure whether he should be surprised that over half of them had criminal records. Mostly lighter stuff like muggings and grand theft autos, but still, it made a large portion of the crime Peter stopped in a daily basis. 

Heck, he wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of them had done time because the police found them webbed up to a wall.

“What do you want?” One of them barked as Matt and Peter approached.

_ VINNY ADAMS, 23 - CRIMINAL RECORD: PICKPOCKETING, GRAND THEFT AUTO _ , EDITH informed him.

“My name is Matthew Murdock, I’m Mr Cage’s attorney.” Matt explained. “I need to speak with him.”

“Man, no way. Luke ain’t in no trouble!” Another one spoke up. “Last night wasn’t his fault. Also, cops know what he’s been doin’ for Harlem, they won’t take him in.”

_ DAVID TORRES, 18 - CRIMINAL RECORD: NONE _

“What happened last night?” Peter asked before he could stop himself.

“Look, man,” Vinny said, ignoring Peter’s question. “We can’t let you in, lawyer or not. The boss’ got enough shit to deal with.”

“Maybe you should check that with him before sending me away.” Matt replied calmly. “I assure you, your boss will be dealing with a lot more shit if you don’t let us in.”

Vinny scoffed and shook his head before turning to David. “Go get Sugar, tell him the boss’ got some more visitors.”

David ran inside, and a couple of minutes later he was back, a much bigger guy with him, Peter assumed that was who Sugar was supposed to be.

_ GIDEON MACE, 35 - CRIMINAL RECORD: ROBBERY, COERCION, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT _ , EDITH notified him

Sugar analysed both Matt and Peter carefully before turning to the lawyer and saying, “You ain’t Foggy.”

“Foggy’s busy today. I’m his partner.” Matt replied, reaching into his inner pocket and handing Sugar a card. Peter recognized it as the same one that had taken him to Nelson, Murdock & Page all those weeks ago. “You can check with Mr Cage, if you want. I’m sure he won’t be picky about which of us he’d rather speak to.”

Sugar examined the business card before pocketing it. “No need. If you’re with Foggy, you’re good people. He helped me get a place for my wife and kid, no one wanted to take in an ex-con. He didn’t even charge me anything. Guy’s great.”

Matt let out a chuckle. “Yeah, he is. I’ll let him know we ran into you.”

Sugar nodded, before turning to Peter. “And who’re you?”

“Oh, I-I’m Peter, sir. Peter Parker.”

“He’s my intern.” Matt said.

“Alright. Come on in, don’t mind the mess.” The man said as he led them inside.

Peter had never been to Harlem’s Paradise, but it was safe enough to assume it had seen better days. Most of what Peter assumed was the dance floor was covered with metal and glass, half of the bar area was completely destroyed, not to mention the broken chairs scattered all over the place. 

“So, what exactly happened here last night?” Matt asked as they walked in. Peter figured that whatever his senses could do surely had been picking up on the same things.

Sugar sighed before answering. “Some nutjob with a big gun, wanted Luke’s head because of what happened to that kid downtown.”

“I thought Mr Cage was protecting people.” Peter said, with just enough sarcasm in his voice to get away as a genuine comment. MJ would be proud.

“He is!” Sugar answered. “The people in Harlem anyway. There ain’t much he can do for y’all in 114 and down. That kid got shot on the 56th, it’s nothing to do with us! It ain’t Luke’s fault.”

“Maybe you should tell that to the guy who did this, then.” Peter said, making Sugar turn around to face him. The boy took a step back by instinct.

“Look, kid, Luke’s been doing all he can, alright? More than anyone has ever done for Harlem, it ain’t his fault some people don’t see it that way. He ain’t doing all that so some white kid from downtown can come over and be a little shit about it.”

Peter nodded and lowered his head in shame. “Yeah, of course. Sorry, sir.” 

“Peter has a point, though.” Matt spoke up, to Peter’s surprise. “It doesn’t matter what Luke is or isn’t doing if there’s people downtown putting his name on heroin packets. Especially now that someone died because of it. It’s not a good look. Is he gonna do anything about that?”

“Man, it ain’t the first time someone used his name like that. Luke’s gonna be fine.” Sugar replied, before he continued to walk.

He led them to the foot of the stairs and stopped. “Wait here. I’ll let him know you’re here.” He said before going up.

“I guess that went well.” Matt said. 

Peter let out a chuckle and continued to look around. EDITH kept running facial recognition on everyone in his field of vision, as well as analysing all the debris scattered all over the club.

But something else caught his eye before EDITH even had the time to identify it. Peter’s blood ran cold, and he ran in that direction.

“No, no, there’s no way, I stopped them!” He kept repeating to himself, but that purple-ish glow was unmistakable.

_ CHITAURI ENERGY CORE - HIGHLY DANGEROUS _ , EDITH read.

“Hey, Peter, are you alright?” Matt caught up to him.

“Y-Yeah, it’s just… I’ve seen this before.” He answered, starting to bend over to pick it up.

“No tampering with the evidence, please!” Someone warned and Peter jumped. 

_ MARK BAILEY - NYPD DETECTIVE _

“Hi, Detective Bailey.” He held out a hand, and Peter took it. “I’m here investigating what happened last night, so you know. Can’t have you moving things around and leaving your print all over them, can I? Unless you wanna go to prison!” he let out a nervous chuckle.

Peter gave him a small smile and nodded. 

“Matt Murdock. Mr Cage’s lawyer.” Matt introduced himself as Bailey turned to him, clear hesitation on his face as he considered holding out his hand for Matt to shake or not. Matt saved him from the dilemma by doing it himself. “Did you find anything interesting yet?”

Bailey shrugged, taking a second before realizing his mistake and speaking up. “I-I mean, not really. Cameras got fried in the blast, and none of the witnesses have been perticularly helpful. All we got is that thing.” He pointed to the glow-y thing.

“D-Do you know what it is?” Peter asked. He wasn’t concerned about his secret identity, not until he made sure the detective knew what he was dealing with. Peter didn’t back when he first came across it, and he nearly got killed multiple times because of it. “It’s dangerous! It’s, like, Avengers level stuff!”

Bailey raised an eyebrow at him. “And how do you know all that?”

“I-I read it! Online. I mean, I run a blog about them with a friend.” It wasn’t really a lie, only neither he nor Ned had posted anything on it since they were 12. “Anyway, this is like, some sort of alien tech! Some guys were running around with those types of things in Queens a while back!”

Whether he bought Peter’s excuse or not, Bailey seemed more focused on the information he was given, which was a relief. “Alien, huh? That would actually make sense. I can’t get any readings on it.” He said, mostly to himself than anyone else. “Also, if the guy really was out to get Luke, alien shit would be the way to do it.”

“How so?” Matt asked.

“Well, he-- the Judas bullets Cottonmouth had. They used materials from the Incident to fabricate it. They don’t work that well on him anymore, though, and even if they did, no one’s seen the guy who made them in years. This is the next best thing.”

“Hey, you two!” Sugar called from the balcony upstairs. “Come on up, he’s waiting for you.”

Bailey thanked them and Matt and Peter made their way upstairs.

“These guys in Queens that used this thing…” Matt started as they walked. “Any chance one of them is the guy you mentioned at the office the other day? The one who knows who you are?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. He used that to power the weapons he made and sold them. But I put him in prison! We would’ve heard something if he escaped right?

Matt shrugged. “If he’s really Donovan’s witness, and Fisk has him, the last thing they’d want would be to let him escape. And lyeah, if he had, we would’ve already heard about it. It’s more likely that one of the members of his crew is taking over.”

“I thought the rest of them were put away too! O-Or at least left the city or something. This is my fault, I-I should’ve checked!”

“Hey, come on, you have no control what criminals get up to.” Matt said. “Something must’ve happened for them to start the business again. Something big.”

“Like what?”

Before Matt had the time to reply, they were interrupted by Sugar.

“You got ten minutes.” He told me. “And just in case you’re thinking of trying any funny business,” He looked directly at Peter. “Don’t.”

He opened the door for them and the pair stepped inside.

A man and a woman waited inside when they walked in. Peter didn’t need EDITH to tell him who the man was-- even if he wasn’t who the pair had come here to see in the first place, it wasn’t difficult to identify the Hero of Harlem.

_ CARL LUCAS aka LUKE CAGE, HARLEM’S HERO - CRIMINAL RECORD: GRAND THEFT AUTO, DRUG POSSESSION (found innocent) _

“Matt Murdock.” He said, smiling as he made his way over to them. “I was starting to think I’d have to pay you a visit in Hell’s Kitchen myself.”

Matt laughed and shook Luke’s hand.

“You’re supposed to be dead.” The woman said, looking at Matt.

_ MISTY KNIGHT - NYPD DETECTIVE _

Her arm had its own pop up, which read,  _ PROSTHETIC DONATED BY: RAND ENTERPRISES, AFTER LOSS IN THE LINE OF DUTY AT MIDLAND CIRCLE _

Surely there was nothing necessarily good about her losing her arm on duty, but the technology was really impressive. Nowhere near what the Winter Soldier’s arm was, sure, but miles above what Peter ever imagined Rand Enterprises ever worked with. 

He made the smart decision to not make a Robocop joke.

“Detective Knight.” Matt greeted her, holding out his hand, which she took with her metal one. “Good to see you, too. I, uh… heard what happened at Midland Circle. Sorry about that.”

The detective shrugged. “Well, compared to some people, I’d say I got off easy. Not if those people are fine after having the whole place fall on top of them, though.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Matt replied, though he seemed very aware that detective Knight wouldn’t fall for it. 

She didn’t do more than shake her head and scoff, though, so Peter figured that was pretty much the answer she was expecting.

“Jess is gonna kill you when you go see her. You know that, right?” Luke asked, his voice taking an amused tone.

Matt chuckled. “I tried. She slammed the door in my face.”

“Sounds like her.” Mr Cage smiled. “Sugar, wait outside. Don’t let anyone interrupt us.”

Sugar did what he was told, closing the door behind him.

“And who are you?” The man asked, looking at Peter.

“Oh, I-I’m Peter, sir. Peter Parker.” Peter replied, holding out his own hand.

“That spider kid?” The man asked, shaking the boy’s hand.

Peter shot a look at Matt. Luke knew he was Daredevil, and never told anyone. Even Detective Knight seemed to have a pretty good idea about it, and Matt wasn’t in cuffs. Maybe Peter could trust them.

“He’s with me.” Matt replied, before Peter had the chance to say anything. “He’s a good kid. That’s all that matters.”

Luke studied Peter for a long moment, before nodding. “Alright. I guess you’re here about that Bennet kid?”

Peter let out a sigh in relief. Enhanced or not, Peter really didn’t want to reveal his secret identity to more people, especially not a cop and a possible crime boss. He and Matt took their seats.

“Kinda, yeah.” Matt replied.

Luke nodded. “Alright. Take a seat.”

“You need me to go?” Detective Knight asked.

Matt shook his head as he took his seat, Peter followed him. “No, not really. I’m assuming you’re here for the same thing?”

Matt started giving Mr Cage a rundown of what he and Peter had found in their patrols, and the boy took the opportunity to take a better look around.

Aside from the broken window he’d seen downstairs, the office was mostly just a regular office. Peter was almost giving up until he looked more carefully at the wall behind Luke’s desk.

EDITH outlined a part of the wall, and it took Peter a second to process that it just identified a secret door. The outline went on below the building, leading to a big box the AI couldn’t see past. 

Mr Cage had a secret bunker below the nightclub. Why, Peter had no idea. He wouldn’t need it, right?

Peter’s heart started racing. He found something. He actually found something. A super-secret super villain bunker, one that could have all sorts of illegal things inside.

So, now what? 

He couldn’t simply try to break it open, and calling out Mr Cage on it right now wouldn’t be much more productive.

He turned to look at Matt, but if the lawyer noticed it when Peter’s heartbeat picked up, he was doing a good job of hiding it as he continued to talk to Mr Cage and detective Knight.

“Luke, I’m just after some information. Whoever’s behind this, they did a good job of covering their tracks, no one I’ve talked to even knows who they’re working for. One of them said something like this happened before.”

Mr Cage nodded, letting out a sigh. “Yeah. Some shitbag named Arturo Gomez, I put him away.”

“Is he still in prison?”

“He’s dead.” Detective Knight interjected. “He was released a couple of days later, and was found dead around the same time.”

“So, it’s a dead-end.” Matt said, clearly disappointed.

“Pretty much.”

“Anyone who worked with him? Who could be taking over the business?”

“Everyone’s either dead or behind bars.” The detective answered. “Mariah Dillard made sure of that.”

“Last time, they were trying to discredit me,” Mr Cage said. “It’s probably the same this time, given what happened last night.” 

“I could probably use some help.” The lawyer said. “And I assume you wanna know who’s behind this.”

Mr Cage let out a chuckle. “Thought you preferred working alone.”

“Yeah. Teamwork isn’t as bad as I thought, so… I figured I’d ask.”

The smile dropped from Mr Cage’s face. “I can’t.” He said, “I have a deal with the other crime bosses in the city. They don’t get inside Harlem, I don’t mess with their business outside of it.”

“Well, we don’t know that any of them are behind it.” Matt argued.

“Doesn’t matter. If they see me snooping around their turf, I might lose the little control I have over Harlem right now.”

“So… you won’t help?” Peter finally spoke up. “I-I mean, they’re using your name,” He continued, feeling his face heat up as the trio turned to face him. “You probably should do something about it, so… something like that doesn’t happen again!” He pointed at the window. 

Mr Cage stared at him. For a moment, Peter thought he was about to go flying through the broken window. He still wasn’t too comfortable about giving away his identity, and he really didn’t want to test his own strength against Luke Cage’s right now, so he’d have no choice.

“Look, kid, I want to help. I really do, but if they see me doing anything suspicious, Harlem is doomed. I can’t risk it!”

“Well, they don’t have to see you do anything.” Matt suggested. “You might get more information doing… whatever it is you do than out in the streets. If you get anything, you can just call me, or stop by the office. They won’t think it’s suspicious that you’re talking to your lawyers, right?”

Mr Cage considered it for a moment, before nodding. “Yeah, I guess not. I’ll keep an eye out. I can’t promise anything, though.”

Matt nodded. Peter didn’t know him well, but he knew enough to know that he wasn’t too happy with that arrangement.

After that, it wasn’t long before they left the nightclub, with Peter shooting one last look at the wall behind Mr Cage on the way out, almost as if to confirm the secret door was still there.

“So, what do you think?” Matt asked Peter once they left the nightclub, taking the boy by surprise.

“Huh? Uh, I-I don’t know.” He answered. “I mean, he didn’t sound like he was lying or anything. Was he?”

Matt shook his head. “You know, I get what he was saying. I mean, he made a deal to keep Harlem safe, it’s not much different from what I did with Fisk.”

Peter nodded. “Hey, listen, I-- I saw something weird back there.”

“Weirder than the alien thing?” Matt asked.

Peter shook his head. He couldn’t deal with that at the same time. Nope. The glow-y thing would have to wait until he had more information.“Mr Cage has a secret bunker. There’s a door behind his desk.”

Matt stopped walking and turned to face Peter.

“What do you mean?”

“He has a secret door, and stairs that go underground. It’s, like, a full on panic room.” He explained. “I mean, Mr Cage doesn’t need it, right? Why is it there?”

“It isn’t Luke’s.” A voice behind them said. Peter turned around to see Detective Knight a few steps behind them. “I mean, he didn’t build it. Mariah Dillard did, long before he took over.”

“Does Luke use it?” Matt asked. 

“No idea. He’s been… different lately. For all I know he’s the one running this Luke Cage heroin shit and he’s stashing it all down there.” She answered.

“So, you think he’s behind it?” Peter asked, perking up.

She sighed. “I hope not. Luke’s a good guy, he always has been. If that’s who he is now, we’re all screwed.” She turned to Matt. “What else you got on the dealers? I was thinking I could do some digging.” 

Matt shrugged. “Not much, other than what Luke told us. Which-- isn’t much either.” He replied. “It’s mostly a few drug dealers in Hell’s Kitchen with no idea of who they’re actually working for.”

“Any of them are into custody?” 

“Probably. I stopped a deal once and I could hear the police on the way.” Matt explained. “You know Brett Mahoney, from the 15th? He would probably know better than me.”

“Yeah. I’m assuming he doesn’t know. About you?” She asked, and Matt shook his head in response. “Alright, I pay him a visit. I’ll keep you updated.”

Matt nodded. “Me too. Take care, detective.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, you too.” She turned to Peter. “Nice meeting you, kid.”

Peter offered her a smile and she walked back to the nightclub. 

“So, does she know about you?” Peter asked, turning to Matt.

“It’s a long story.” He answered. “Let’s go, I’ll tell you on the way.

“You haven’t worn glasses before.” Matt said as they sat on the subway on their way back to Hell’s Kitchen. 

Peter was surprised he spoke at all. When they were making their way up to Harlem, he made a point to say he didn’t do well underground, which Peter could definitely understand, so he made no objections when they just sat in silence most of the way. 

“Oh, uhm… yeah.” Was his very smart response. 

He wanted to ask how Matt even knew he had been wearing glasses at all, but at this point, he was past asking how Matt knew anything at all. 

“These are, like, those EDITH glasses I told you about.” He said, not missing how Matt sat up a bit straighter at the mention of EDITH. “I brought them in case there was something suspicious at Harlem’s Paradise. I-It’s how I found the secret door.”

“Wait, so those are the glasses that caused… you know, everything?” He asked.

“Yeah. I haven’t worn them since Europe. I-I don’t think I should have it, you know.” 

“Why not?”

Peter frowned. Surely the story about how he gave them to a supervillain almost right away should make it pretty clear  _ why _ . “I-I mean, I just gave it away to some psycho after having it for like 24 hours. Clearly, Mr Stark made a mistake giving them to me.”

“Maybe not.” Matt said. “I mean, I never met Stark. I disagreed with a lot of what he did, but he was a smart guy. He wouldn’t leave those to just anyone. He left it to you for a reason, maybe you just don’t know what it is yet.”

Peter scoffed. “Yeah, I’d like to know what that reason was.”

“Well, you’re a teenager that somehow got superpowers, and instead of using it to your own advantage, you decided to help people. That says a lot. It’s not surprising he believed you were the best option.”

Peter didn’t answer. Mr Stark said something similar when they first met, but it didn’t make Peter feel any better. Even wearing the glasses for that afternoon felt wrong, he couldn’t imagine wearing them for the rest of his life as the next big, Iron Man level superhero.

“Thanks, man.” He told Matt, getting up from his seat. Their station was still a long way away, but Peter needed some air. “Look, I-I’ll go patrolling for a bit before going home. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

Matt didn’t look like he bought Peter’s sucky excuse, but thankfully he didn’t comment on it. “Sure. Be careful out there.”

“Yeah, always.” He said as the train stopped and Peter stepped out. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had to borrow some things from the comics for this. Especifically Sugar's name, and the reason Luke went to prison as Carl Lucas.  
Sugar's name is some random criminal's name who showed up in Luke Cage comics a few times, not really the Sugar from the show, but just a reference because why not. All names that aren't mentioned in the show are random, though.  
Striker framed Luke by planting cocaine in his backpack, and that's how Luke went to Seagate and got his powers. 
> 
> Also, I had a lot of fun writing the little EDITH things for this, but I'm not sure if that's going to stick around, mostly because I don't know how to fit it into the story well. I still enjoyed it, though! 
> 
> Anyway, this is it for now, I'll see you guys whenever I manage to get the next chapter out!  
As always Kudos and Comments are always appreciated, and thank you very much for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hello, it’s been a minute, huh. 
> 
> First off, let me just say I hope you guys are doing well! This whole situation the world is in is crazy, but we can get through it if we all do our parts. Stay home if you can, wash your hands, avoid touching your face, etc. Just take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Also, don’t stock up on supplies, ya nasties!
> 
> Second off, holy shit, guys, I’m so sorry this took so long. I started another fic (yes, I know, don’t kill me) and I sort of focused on that for a while. That being said, you should definitely go check it out, you know… just saying. It’s MCU Peter Parker’s origin story, and I did a mix of the other live-action Spidey movies to write it, I’ve been having a lot of fun! It’s also in first person (Peter’s POV), so I get it if it’s not your thing. It’s not my thing either, this is entirely out of my comfort zone. Stil, like I said, I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling, let’s get to the fun part! Hope you enjoy!

Matt had to admit that visiting Riker’s again after everything that had happened was, to say the least, scary. 

Neither of his previous visits had gone very well. The first time he found out Fisk was running the prison Matt himself sent him to, both with and without the mask, and the second visit had him not only caught up in the middle of a riot-- that Fisk had several fingers in starting, no less, but it was also the occasion he had figured out Daredevil’s secret identity.

Needless to say, Matt wasn’t thrilled about a  _ third _ visit.

Foggy had argued that there was no need for it. Even if Fisk was willing to talk about whether or not he threatened Adrian Toomes into testifying, they'd have no proof. If they were to call for a mistrial, it would be easier to do it through Toomes himself rather than calling Fisk to the stand for no apparent reason. Donovan would most definitely see that one coming. 

Still, Matt didn't only have questions about the Spider-Man case. 

Fisk and his lawyer were already expecting him in a room, not much different from the one Matt had been led to in his first visit.

"Mr Murdock. Please take a seat." The lawyer said.

Donovan couldn't be the one to receive Matt, thanks to their involvement in a different case, so he sent one of his partners. Matt didn't recognize him.

"As you may remember, you signed a contract on your first visit to Mr Fisk." He pulled a sheet of paper out of his briefcase and slid it across the table to Matt. "Here's a copy. It's in Braille, if you'd like to review it."

"Yeah, I remember the rules, thank you." Matt answered harshly. 

The man huffed and collected the copy of the contract from the desk before speaking again.

"In that case I'm sure you recall that Mr Fisk will not answer any questions until my personal approval, you will refer to him only as Mr Fisk, yo--"

"You can leave us, Mr Lee. I can handle it from here." Fisk interrupted.

Lee tried to argue. "B-But Mr Fisk, I can't, in my right mind, leave you with--" 

"I said to leave!” Fisk cut him off. “I'm sure the issues Mr Murdock is here to discuss doesn't require your presence. Wait outside. If I need anything, I'll let you know."

The lawyer hesitantly gathered his things before making his way to the door. Matt listened carefully to make sure he didn't try to listen in from outside. 

"Is he…  _ behaving _ ?" Fisk asked, nearly making Matt jump. 

Fisk knew who Matt was, he knew what he could do. Matt would need to keep that in mind. 

"Yeah, he's just following orders, like any good lapdog." Matt answered. He adjusted himself on his seat before continuing. "You know why I'm here?"

"I have a few… theories, you could say, on the matter." Fisk said. "I do follow the news from here. It was a pretty…  _ interesting _ move, I gotta say. Protecting one of the city’s biggest heroes from having his true identity exposed to the whole world. It  _ has _ to be a hard case to work on, without letting it get too personal, isn’t it, Mr Murdock?”

Matt scoffed. Surely Fisk wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to taunt him. It made sense, Matt didn't doubt he'd do the same if Fisk was the one under a similar situation. 

Also, yeah, he didn't want to admit it, but it  _ had _ been a hard case to work on, and it didn't become any better when he realized who the opposing lawyer was. 

He wanted to help Peter, and he would do everything in his power to do so. But he was well aware-- largely because Foggy wouldn't let him forget, that this case did hit very close to home for him, and any wrong decisions could end up with both Peter's and his secret identity being out to the public. Officially, and with solid evidence, in Peter's case. 

Best case scenario, the kid would be thrown in the Raft and Matt and Foggy, at the very least, would lose their license.

Still, he simply shrugged in response. 

"Yeah, weird it was Donovan who took the Bugle's case, too. Seems like too much of a coincidence, doesn't it? The only lawyer in the city who knows who I am. It would make more sense if he was following orders." Matt replied, waiting to see Fisk's reaction. “I wonder who would put him up to that.”

Fisk didn't seem too bothered by the accusation. Not even a skip in his heart to indicate he had been the one to give the order, or at the very least involved with the fact that Donovan ended up representing the man who wouldn't think twice before giving away Daredevil's secret identity. If the more recent videos were anything to go by, Jameson surely would waste no time exposing Daredevil while he waited for the Spider-Man trial to die down.

"I assure you, Mr Murdock…" Fisk started. "If Mr Donovan is under anyone's orders, they are not mine. I'm a man of my word, after all! For the sake of our loved ones, I'm sure you are as well."

Again, not even a waver in his heart to show he was lying. Nothing.

Frustrating.

"Well, I'm glad we're on the same page." Matt continued, doing his best to hide his disappointment. It would be much easier if Fisk was the one behind everything. "Still, that's not what I'm here to discuss. I have…  _ different _ issues I need to talk about. With you being known as the  _ Kingpin _ in the city, I figured you'd have some answers."

Fisk hummed, clearly working on the best choice of words in his mind. Matt didn't blame him. It had been exactly what he had been doing the whole ride here. 

"I don't… recall our  _ deal _ involving any… exchange in  _ privileged information _ , Mr Murdock." He started. “I don’t see how helping  _ you _ would benefit me in any way. We are not friends.”

“We absolutely aren’t. I’m not here to change that.” He leaned on the table. “Still, it could be helpful for you, right? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you rot in your cell for the rest of your life, but in the case that you plan on getting out, which, I know you do. I’m sure you sit in your cell every night trying to figure out a way to come out on top, and if that ever works… it would be really convenient to not have anyone out there to challenge you. No other power hungry drug lord wanting to be the new Kingpin. You wouldn’t allow that to happen, now, would you, Wilson?”

Fisk didn’t reply. Matt wouldn’t let himself think, for even a moment, that this would be a long lasting companionship. But, for now, it would have to do. 

“Of course, I’ll be there to stop you.” He continued. “But it would be way easier, wouldn’t it? To just deal with me, instead of all the other drug lords in New York. I’m not sure how much they’ll respect you after you ended up here the second time. I don’t think any of them have even seen the inside of a prison cell, and as far as I know, half of them aren’t even as rich as you, they probably wouldn’t be able to buy their way out. You won’t be able to pull the same crap you did last time. And they won’t respect you anymore.”

Fisk fell silent. Matt did too. He’d made his point, if he said anything else, he might ruin it. Especially since he had no idea what the other crime lords’ opinions on Fisk even were.

Fisk was a smart man, it wouldn’t take much for him to see right through Matt’s bluff. Still, he had it on good authority that Fisk never got along with any other crime family in the city. None of them got along with anyone. It was an eternal battle for territory, after all. 

“I can’t say I…  _ trust _ any of them not to challenge me when I get back.” Fisk started. “However, I  _ know _ most of them will follow me, when the timing is right. They’re too afraid not to. But I suppose it could be…  _ beneficial _ , to get some of them out of the way until then.”

Matt waited, thankful Fisk wasn’t the one who could hear  _ his _ heartbeat. That would have betrayed him 3 times since the man started speaking. 

“Although, I do have certain…  _ conditions _ .” He continued. “I’ll be doing you a  _ favor _ giving you information on my… colleagues. So, when the time comes, I’ll be collecting a favor from  _ you _ , Murdock, do you understand? You will  _ owe _ me.”

Between handling Peter’s case and the investigation on the ‘Luke Cage’ drugs, Matt already had way too much on his plate. He had no reason to add ‘owing Wilson Fisk a favor’ to that.

And yet, there wasn’t any other way to get what he needed, was there? Fisk wouldn’t change his mind, and Matt, of course, had no other way to get that information. Not from someone as close to those people as Fisk himself. 

“Fine.” He said. “But I won’t hurt, kill or threaten anyone for you. I’ll give you information. The same kind you’re giving me now. Nothing more, nothing less. And if what you tell me doesn’t boil down to anything, the deal is off.”

“Good enough for me.” Fisk smiled. “If you’re not here about that Spider-Man case, I assume it has something to do with the heroin going around the city with Mr Cage’s name on them. Or about that boy who was killed. Mike… Bennett, was it?”

“Both. Bennet was caught in the crossfire of two gangs, one of them had a supply of the drugs in their car. I think it was planned. Drugs with Cage’s name start circulating the streets, eventually a kid ends up dead because of it, directly or not.” Matt explained. “Whoever’s behind the drugs clearly wants to take Luke down, or at least make Harlem lose their faith in him. From what I heard, they’re succeeding. Now, I’m sure the other crime bosses aren’t happy with the way he’s been running things, so my money would be on one or more of them.”

Fisk nodded. “Mr Cage did present some…  _ resistance _ , when I tried contacting him. The FBI agents I sent spent weeks in the hospital after that.” He said. “As for the crime lord, none seemed satisfied with Mr Cage’s…  _ policy _ . Harlem is valuable, anyone knows that. When Mr Cage closed the door on all traffic, it was…  _ inconvenient _ to all of them, to say the least. More so to one of them than anyone else.” 

“Who?”

“Rosalie Carbone. Her family has been trying to take control over Harlem for generations, but drug traffic was always the best they could get, thanks to the Stokes, and they had to share their territory with the Dominicans. When the last one of the Stokes died, she saw it as her chance, and then Cage took over. You can imagine she wasn’t very happy. Especially after he took over Harlem’s Paradise, too. Owning it means owning Harlem. She lost.” Fisk explained. “If anyone wants to ruin Mr Cage’s reputation and take his place, it would be her.”

Matt listened carefully not only to Fisk’s words, but his heart as well. It didn’t even waver. He was telling the truth. Or, at the very least, what he believed was the truth, which was as good as it could get at the moment.

“Alright.” He said. “Tell me all you know about her.”

“And that’s why, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defense can’t provide any solid evidence of Spider-Man’s true identity, let alone prove he has any connection whatsoever to Peter Parker.” Foggy was wrapping up his opening statement. As usual, he was doing great. “Mr Parker is a sweet young man, straight A student, not capable of hurting a fly. He never even signed up for the football team! To accuse him of being a superhero without any evidence is not only sensationalism on the Daily Bugle’s part, but also dangerous, and irresponsible. Spider-Man swings around the city taking down muggers, mob bosses and gun dealers. The second any of them want revenge, and see who the Bugle decided to point fingers at, they won’t hesitate to fire at either Mr Parker or his loved ones. And, once again, may I remind you, Mr Jameson presented no evidence other than a video of a man whose identity isn’t clear, claiming Mr Parker was a masked vigilante. Unless the defense can prove these claims, beyond unreasonable doubt, the consequences should be tremendous.” 

Just the day before, Foggy was talking about how a first year law student could put that statement together in no time. He had insisted on how Donovan had something else planned, something that wasn’t only limited to the Spider-Man case. His theory was that the lawyer would be calling out Daredevil, and, by extension, adding Matt to the list of citizens accused of being a masked vigilante. 

Matt couldn’t say the possibility hadn’t crossed his mind. Still, it would seem like a pretty bold move, considering he’d be putting his boss’ wife on the line. Donovan wasn’t someone to do that.

“That will be all, your honor.” Foggy finally said, turning around and walking back to his seat beside Matt. 

“That was great, Mr Nelson!” Peter whispered to him. 

Foggy sighed. “Thanks, kid.”

Matt wasn’t sure whether Peter was thinking he was doing a good job of hiding how nervous he was, but he really wasn’t. 

Even if he couldn’t hear the boy’s heartbeat, Peter wouldn’t stop fidgeting or shaking his leg. All he could hope for was that the jury would see it as a nervous teenager facing criminal charges rather than anything else.

Donovan got up from his seat, and headed towards the jury box. Peter had noticed, earlier, that the only people at the defense’s desk were Donovan and his assistant. Jameson, for whatever reason, had decided to not show up.

“Ladies and gentleman of the jury, I think we can all agree… times have changed.” Donovan started. “About twenty years ago, none of us could imagine what the world would become. Nowadays, we see  _ ‘heroes’ _ flying around the city, around the  _ world _ , and we  _ applaud _ them. We say they’re here to protect us. Of course, many have argued that that’s the police’s job, right? The police have always been here, why should they give up their spot, after all? Now, of course the police can’t handle all sorts of threats thrown their way. We’ve seen the Avengers take on aliens, or murderous robots enough times by now to know it isn’t wrong to rely on them.”

He started pacing next to the jury box. “But then how to make sure they stay in line? Policemen swear an oath, these so-called superheroes don’t. Policemen are held accountable for their actions, the Avengers weren’t. They destroyed half of the city not that long ago and left the population to fix their mess. In light of this, the Sokovia Accords were created. A way to hold superheroes accountable for their actions. They sign it, they’re bound to the government, they must obey orders, they suddenly have a moral obligation to the people. Some of those  _ superheroes _ , however, still decide to take matters into their own hands. New York probably houses most of them. The bulletproof man in Harlem, the insanely strong woman and the devil dressed man in Hell’s Kitchen, the guy with the glowing fist in Chinatown, and, of course, the  _ friendly neighborhood Spider-Man _ .”

Peter shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the mention of his alter ego. Matt couldn’t say he was happy about Donovan mentioning him or any of his friends, either, and Donovan obviously made sure to do so on purpose.

“Now, Spider-Man, is a bit of a different case, too. Some of those enhanced individuals, we know their name, we even know their home address. But not Spider-Man. Spider-Man is one of the ones who is too much of a coward to show his face. Who hides behind a mask. What is he hiding?” Peter’s heart was already beating fast, and it only got faster when Donovan turned around and pointed directly at him.

“A perfect, ordinary little life, so no one will look at him twice and think he’s a superhero. And that’s exactly what the prosecution wants you to think. And what my client, Mr J. Jonah Jameson, of the Daily Bugle, wants to prevent you from falling for, because unlike Spider-Man and all of these vigilantes that call themselves  _ ‘heroes’ _ , the Daily Bugle has a commitment to the  _ truth _ . They can say there’s no evidence of Mr Parker’s true identity, but I say, the evidence is all there, if you’re willing to just take a second look at it. At the end of this trial, you will have no doubt in your mind that Mr Parker is, in fact, the vigilante known as Spider-Man, and that he is guilty of all crimes he’s been accused of, and you will have no choice but to send him straight to the Raft. This will be all, your honor.”

With that, Donovan walked back to his seat.

“Well, that was a bit predictable.” Foggy commented. “He wants to throw you in the Raft, big surprise.”

“What does he mean by the evidence is all there? Like, t-there’s no way he has more, right?” Peter asked. 

Foggy sighed. “Probably. He’s a smart guy, he wouldn’t let this go to trial relying only on one witness.”

“We’ll figure it out, Peter.” Matt assured him. “That’s a promise.”

Peter nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.

Matt smiled in reassurance, though, honestly, he wasn’t as sure of it as he was letting on.

The only thing he knew for certain was that he would do everything in his power to keep that promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing about the future of this fic you guys should know about right away: I’m making this a two parter. I always kind of intended to, so I’ve been doing some sneaky set-up for a while, but it took me a long while considering whether or not it was actually worth it. I decided it is! I really enjoy writing these two idiots interacting, so I decided to go through with it, even if it takes me forever to do. 
> 
> As always, thank you very much for reading it! Kudos are always much appreciated, as well as comments! I love reading your reactions and it really makes my day that you took time out of your day to tell me how much you enjoyed reading my story!
> 
> If you do take that time, by the way, can you tell me if you’re not very familiar with the NMCU, or if you want more details on the events that happened in the shows, either because you haven’t watched them, or because it’s been a while? I’ve been trying my best to incorporate enough exposition in the chapter itself, or just being here to answer questions if anyone is unsure of something. I haven’t had to yet, but I got the feeling that I’ve been digging too much into the lore of the NMCU shows without giving enough explanation to what happened or who is who. Please let me know if you have any questions.
> 
> Anyway, that’s it! Thanks for reading it this far! I don’t know when I’ll be back with a new chapter, but let’s hope soon. I’m thinking on aiming for one chapter per month, or something? We’ll see.
> 
> Again, kudos and comments are much appreciated. I hope you have a great day! Stay inside if possible and remember to wash your hands!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this took me longer than I expected it to! I'm not even sure why, but it took several rewrites for me to come up with something I was happy with, and this was a chapter I thought it would be easy to write! 
> 
> Anyway, we got there in the end, folks! I hope you enjoy!

“It is my understanding,” Donovan started his questioning. “that you got to spend a lot of time around Mr Parker during the road trip to Europe, is that correct?”

Brad Davis shifted in his seat before answering. “I-It was a school trip, sir. I didn’t really have a choice.”

Peter had a mini freak out earlier when Foggy told him who Donovan was calling in to testify today. 

Of course, Brad didn’t really know anything. At least not anything that could easily give away Peter's identity, but the guy did hate his guts. So Peter doubted he would be going out of his way to help.

"Did you notice anything…  _ off _ about Mr Parker's behavior during the trip?" Donovan continued.

Brad shot a look at Peter before answering the lawyer’s question. It didn’t make the boy feel any better.

“I don’t know Peter very well.” He said, and Peter perked up. Maybe not everything was lost after all. “I mean, I did see him sneak out a couple of times.”

Ah, there it was.

“Sneak out? How so?” Donovan continued.

“Well, we had this… Opera to go to in Prague. All of us. I saw Peter leaving before it started.”

“And where would you say he went?”

“I don’t know.” Brad shrugged. “I only saw him again on the flight back after that.”

Donovan nodded. “And why is that?”

“Our teacher said he went to stay with some relatives in Germany until the whole thing with Mysterio died down.”

“And so, once it all  _ did _ die down, Mr Parker somehow showed up in London, somehow, to take the flight back with the rest of the class.” 

“Yes.” Brad nodded. “That’s pretty much it.”

Donovan turned to the jury, a smile on his face that Peter didn’t like at all.

“It’s worth noting,” He started. “That the Opera Mr Davis mentioned took place on the same day as the attack on Prague Festival of Lights. The night when Spider-Man was reportedly seen.”

“Objection!” Matt protested. “Your honor, there’s no evidence that Spider-Man and the vigilante seen in Prague are the same person. Officially, the only sighting of Spider-Man out of New York was in London.”

“I’ll rephrase,” Donovan replied, “The night when a vigilante with a similar skill set and gadgets as our very own Spider-Man was reportedly seen. Better?”

Matt didn’t reply. Peter couldn’t tell whether that had been a good or bad interjection. As far as he could tell, things weren’t going so well for him.

“That is no coincidence,” The lawyer continued. “Mr Parker left a school issued activity without warning his teacher and, soon after, this… Night Monkey was first spotted. Coincidentally or not, he has never been seen again since Mr Parker returned from this trip.” He concluded.

The room fell silent, Donovan smiled, seeing he clearly got the result he wanted. 

“No more questions, your honor.” The lawyer announced before getting back to his seat.

May took Peter’s hand, giving him one of her signature ‘ _ it’s-going-to-be-okay’ _ smiles. Peter appreciated the effort, but he couldn’t bring himself to smile back.

Foggy got up and walked over to where Donovan had previously been standing. He remained quiet for a few moments. For Peter, it felt like hours before he finally said anything.

“Have you ever left a school activity, Mr Davis?” Foggy finally asked, clearly taking Brad by surprise judging by the horrified look on his face. 

If Peter could hear heartbeats like Matt, he was sure he would have heard Brad’s racing up right now.

“Don’t worry, you’re not the one on trial here,” The lawyer continued. “I mean, it’s a normal thing, right? We all asked to go to the bathroom and stayed there for thirty minutes ‘cause we needed a break. Sometimes classes or school activities are just that boring.”

Honestly, Foggy was probably the only lawyer Peter would ever meet that could start a questioning like that and get away with it. He was just charismatic like that. Still, Peter couldn’t be sure of how good that was for his case.

Brad continued sitting in his chair, dumbfounded. 

Seeing that the boy wasn’t saying anything Foggy went on. “You see, Mr Davis, what I’m trying to get at here is, you’re a teenager. Teenagers do some…  _ questionable _ things all the time. In this case, the class was expected to sit through an Opera in Prague while a festival was going on outside. I’m assuming that wasn’t the class’ choice. Am I correct?”

Brad recollected himself and shifted in his seat again before answering. “Uhm, yes. I-I mean, no, it wasn’t our choice. Most of us would’ve preferred to be outside at the festival. Mr Harrington said the Opera was a gift from the tour company or something.”

Foggy nodded. “And, aside from Mr Parker, no one else left before it was over? The rest of the class stayed through the whole thing?”

“No.” Brad answered. “Most of them left twenty minutes in. Mr Harrington was desperate at the hotel later trying to find everyone ‘cause of-- what happened.”

“Did  _ you _ stay?”

Brad didn’t answer. He shot a look back at the audience. Peter figured one of his parents had come with him, and they weren’t going to like the answer he was about to give.

“N-No, I left too. I went to try and find someone.”

Peter did his very best trying not to look annoyed, knowing Brad was talking about MJ.

“Okay, last thing,” Foggy said. “When you went back to the hotel that night, what did you do?”

“Mr Harrington told all of us to just go to our rooms. So I did.” Brad shrugged.

“And you didn’t leave until the next morning?”

“No, sir.”

“So, regardless, you couldn’t have seen Mr Parker arriving at the hotel or leaving it to go stay with his relatives, correct? You were in your room the entire time.”

“I-I guess not.”

Foggy smiled. “No more questions, your honor.” 

Peter let out a relieved sigh as Foggy walked back to his seat. 

If anyone was tracking Spider-Man’s activity in the past few weeks, they would notice the hero had been spending a lot more time around Hell’s Kitchen. 

Peter hadn’t even realized it happened, but it wasn’t really surprising considering he and May would often go to the Nelson, Murdock & Page office to discuss the case, and, in the days that they didn’t, Peter met with Matt at Fogwell’s Gym for their training. 

Not just that, that training had also developed into patrolling. Peter had to admit it was a relief to be able to train his senses outside of some sweaty old gym, as overwhelming as training in the streets was. At the very least, it was much more effective to learn in combat.

Tonight was one of those nights. 

Although, they weren’t doing much patrolling. They did, for a couple of hours, before stopping to grab some food. They pretty much stayed put after that.

Eventually, Peter pulled out his homework. Matt didn’t comment on it, so he figured it was a slow night. And he would definitely be too tired to do it when he got home anyway. 

“How are you feeling?” Matt finally spoke, and Peter took a moment to realize he was supposed to answer.

“Oh, I-I’m good!” He said, “Long day, though.” He paused. “What about you?”

Matt’s response was a shrug.

This was weird. Months ago, he was geeking out with Ned about meeting Daredevil. Now, here he was, sitting next to the guy at the edge of a building, doing his homework. His life was no joke.

Still, he couldn’t just pretend this was a normal situation either. They would barely even know each other if it wasn’t for Mysterio and the video he managed to send to the Daily Bugle. Peter wouldn’t need a lawyer, he would never go to Matt and Foggy for help, he would have no idea Daredevil and some blind lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen were the same person.

And well, Matt wouldn’t be dealing with a case like that. He didn’t talk about it, but Peter couldn’t imagine it was easy to protect someone else’s secret identity, knowing full well that the same could happen to him any moment. Especially when J. Jonah Jameson was involved. 

“I guess there’s no point in hoping Brad was that witness Donovan mentioned, is there?” Peter asked after a pause.

The thought had occurred to Peter earlier. Of course, he didn’t believe it for a second. He doubted Donovan was the type of guy to put his career on the line over the words of a high schooler.

“Yeah, no. Would make things a lot easier, though.” Matt answered. 

Peter sighed. “Yeah, I wish they could be for once.”

Honestly, Peter was used to it. Nothing was ever easy for him. It was his  _ ‘Parker Luck’ _ as Ben would call it.

Whenever things seemed to be going too well, something got in the way and ruined it.

Wow, he got bitten by a spider and got superpowers? Cool, but now his uncle is dead.

Oh, things really seem to settle down and he finds a nice balance between being Peter Parker and Spider-Man? That’s nice, but now Peter is turning into dust.

He gets to kiss the girl he likes? Awesome, but now the whole world knows who he is.

It was just how things happened. Peter was used to it. 

“You’re a high school student who puts on a mask and fights aliens. I doubt they  _ can  _ be.” Matt joked.

Peter smiled. “And you’re a lawyer who puts on a mask to fight bad guys. You’re not much different.” 

Matt let out a chuckle. “I never said I wasn’t.”

In the end of the day, getting to know Matt was one good thing to come out of all of this. None of the other superheroes he met actually  _ understood _ . Not the same way as Matt.

They didn’t wear a mask, they didn’t really have a life apart from being a hero that they wanted to keep safe. It was a nice change of pace to get to know someone that did.

“What about those drugs with Luke’s name on them? Anything new on that?” Peter asked, trying to change the subject. Somehow, a drug ring and some crime lords seemed easier to deal with. “I mean, that Misty lady said she would call if she got anything, right?”

“Yeah, uh… Misty didn’t call yet. But I went to talk to Fisk.” Matt answered.

Peter looked up from his notebook to look at the other vigilante, a frown on his face under the mask.

“Like--  _ the _ Fisk?” He questioned, “Why?”

The lawyer shrugged. “I figured he might have some useful information on it.”

“Did he?” 

“Not sure yet. I haven’t had the time to look into what he said.” Matt answered. “He mentioned Rosalie Carbone. She’s part of a crime family that apparently has been trying to take over Harlem for years.”

“Sounds familiar.” Peter said, even though it was a blatant lie.

Something Matt clearly didn’t miss as he let out a chuckle. “I mean, she gained some fame a while back, hosting charity events, stuff like that. Trying to cover up what she actually does.”

Peter nodded. “You think Fisk’s telling the truth?”

“It would make sense, if she has her eyes on Harlem. She’d have the perfect opportunity to take over after Mariah Dillard died, if it wasn’t for Luke.”

“Did you tell Luke about it?”

“Not yet.” Matt answered, which came as a surprise. “I’ll wait until I have more information on her first. Plus, I’m sure she was one of the crime lords Luke had to make a deal with. Could complicate things.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Peter agreed. 

Between a trial and a drug ring, the last thing they needed was this Carbone woman finding out Luke Cage was investigating her for no apparent reason. If someone really tried killing Luke with an alien weapon, clearly things up there were shaky as it was.

“What about his wife?” Peter asked, “Fisk’s, I mean. Vanessa, right? Any chance she’s involved?”

Matt considered the question for a moment. “I don’t think so. Fisk was always the one really behind it, the things  _ she _ was responsible for were because of him. I don’t think there’s much for her to do with him locked up. They don’t even see each other, Fisk won’t allow her to expose herself like that.”

“Well, she could be acting on her own, right? Maybe it’s a plan to get him out somehow.” The boy suggested. 

Matt didn’t answer. So, okay, Peter’s idea wasn’t that crazy. 

“So, we should be investigating her, too, right?” He insisted.

“No.” Matt answered.

Peter frowned. “But you said--”

“Not us. I shouldn’t go anywhere near her in the first place, and anyone who knows who I am will know we’re working together if they see you. We should get someone else.”

“Oh,” That made sense. Pissing off Fisk wouldn’t be a good idea if half of what Peter knew about him was true. “So, Miss Page, then?”

Matt shook his head. “They know her too. They’ll recognize anyone too close to me.”

Peter started considering their options. 

Happy could be a good option, if no one made the  _ ‘Happy-Iron-Man-Spider-Man’ _ connection, but Peter had no idea how good or bad his investigative skills were; He doubted it was a good idea to put Ned and MJ up for it; Any of the superheroes he knew would definitely be too busy to stalk some rich Queenpin lady. And Peter didn’t even have their number to begin with!

“I know someone.” Matt finally said. 

“Didn’t you just say it shouldn’t be someone you know?”

“Shouldn’t be someone close to me. She isn’t.”

“Aw, you think we’re close?” Peter joked.

He wasn’t serious, of course. Sure, Peter and Matt got to know a lot about each other between working the case and trying to stop drug dealers, but the actual deep conversations only happened rarely. 

Peter didn’t mind that. He’d lost too many people he cared about, perhaps that distance was a good thing.

From what Peter did know about Matt, it was probably a safe bet to say the man felt the same way.

“Who do you know, anyway?” Peter asked, more serious this time.

“Private investigator. We worked together once, but I don’t think it was enough to put her on Fisk’s radar.” Matt answered. “You ever heard of Jessica Jones?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea when an update is coming, especially since I'll need to redo some of my original plans for the next few chapters, so who knows!   
Also, I'm considering going back to the earlier chapters and rewriting some things. I had a lot of ideas, but no direction of where the story was going at that point, so I kept going out of my way to set up things that didn't pay off, so it's probably the best, for my own peace of mind if nothing else.
> 
> Either way, thank you very much for reading and sticking around! If you liked it, please feel free to leave kudos or a comment! Reading them always makes my day!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this one took me a bit longer than I anticipated, but see I have a good excuse which is I got a PS4 and have been dedicating most of my time to the Spider-Man game, you guys know how it goes. 
> 
> Still, it's finally here! I hope you guys enjoy!

It wasn't that Jessica was a last resort. After Karen, she definitely was the first person Matt would go to to investigate anything or anyone. 

The thing was, she had every reason to not help him. The last time they even talked was right before Matt insisted on being left behind underneath a skyscraper, right before it came down, presumably killing him.

The one time he tried contacting Jessica after recuperating from Midland Circle and putting Fisk away again, all she did was slam the door on his face the second she realized it was him. Given what happened and how long it had taken him to contact her, or anyone else, he couldn’t blame her.

So, when he knocked on her door the next day, he wasn't sure what to expect. Probably anything varying from slamming the door on his face again to throwing him out the window.

"I didn't know ghosts were allowed to visit the living now." She said, as a greeting. "What do you want?"

She hadn’t slammed the door or thrown him out the window yet. Maybe that was a good sign.

"I need your help," Matt answered. 

"Shocking." She replied, walking back into her apartment, leaving the door open. "Get in! Before I change my mind."

Matt did, closing the door behind him. 

It really made it obvious how little they actually knew each other when taking into consideration he had never been inside her apartment before. Between fighting the Hand and trying to not get killed, they barely even had enough time to properly talk. 

Still, Matt assumed it was a safe bet to say she didn’t  _ always _ have boxes scattered around the room. Some of them were still sealed, while most were opened, some of its contents lying beside it.

"You're moving out?" He asked. 

Jessica hesitated, looking at the boxes before replying. "I was. Not sure anymore."

"Why?"

"Goddammit, shit happened, okay? You miss a lot when you're off pretending to be dead." She snapped back. 

"Right." Matt nodded. He probably deserved that. “Look, I’m sorry--”

“Don’t!” Jessica cut him off. “I don’t want your fucking apologies, Murdock. What is done is done. You’re an asshole. Now let’s move on from that.”

Matt didn’t argue. He waited as Jessica headed to the corner and poured herself a drink. She drank the whole glass in a gulp before pouring herself more and sitting at her desk, taking the bottle with her. 

“So, what do you want?” She asked.

“Help,” Matt answered simply, taking the seat across from her. “With…  _ something _ , I’m working on.”

“I’m not fighting any more goddamn ninjas, or--”

“No ninjas!” Matt promised. “And the help that I need is more of the investigating type. So no fighting either.”

Jessica hesitated, leaning back in her seat as she analyzed him. He was well aware that Jessica could see right through him. It didn’t matter how good or bad Matt was at keeping secrets, or even how well they knew each other. She just had that talent. It became clear even back when they first met.

“Well, tough shit. I’m not a PI anymore, I can’t help you there.” She replied. “You can stop by Malcolm’s place next door, he took over Alias Investigations.”

Matt frowned. He couldn’t say he knew a lot about Jessica’s work ethic, but it really didn’t seem like her to just give her firm away to anyone. He wondered if it had something to do with her having previously decided to move out.

He figured it was best not to ask.

“Can’t be him. I mean, no offense, I’m sure he’s great at his job, but there’s more to it than that.” He explained, “It has to be someone I know, someone I trust. And, preferably, someone who already knows who I am.”

Jessica paused. “That’s oddly specific.”

“Yeah. That’s why I came to you. You’re the only one that meets all the criteria.”

Even if they had never had the opportunity to get very close, Matt was sure he could trust Jessica with his life, something that also applied to Luke or Danny. The same way Matt would also have their backs if they ever asked. Having dozens of shared near-death experiences because of an immortality seeking organization of highly trained ninjas in the span of a couple of days really helped with that.

“What about Page? She has her name on your firm, how come  _ she _ doesn’t meet all the criteria?” Jessica questioned.

“She does. But it’s too risky. It can’t be someone too close to me.”

Jessica sighed. “Shit. Fine! Humor me! Why not?”

“Well, the person I’d ask you to investigate… she’s close to someone dangerous, someone who knows my secret, and who would hurt my friends if they believed I was trying to do anything to hurt or prosecute her. So I can’t do it myself. And I can’t ask Karen to do it because they’d instantly know I’m behind it.” He explained. 

“And, they wouldn’t connect me back to you because…?”

“You weren’t involved in the case before, they’d have no reason to suspect you. You could always say you’re following some cheating husband that lives in the building, right?” He shrugged. “Also, you and I aren’t really close. We barely even spoke since… you know.”

“Since you died, yeah.” Jessica nodded. So much for moving on. “This dangerous person you’re talking about. Is it Fisk? Big bald guy who wanted to make the city better but turned out to be a criminal?”

Matt nodded. “We made a deal.”

“Who’s the person you’re having me look into, then?”

“Fisk’s wife, Vanessa. He took her out of the country after he went back to prison, but she managed to convince someone to ignore Fisk’s orders, ‘cause she’s back.” Matt said, “I need to know if she’s been meeting anyone, particularly any crime bosses Fisk was in business with, or that Luke kicked out of Harlem.”

Jessica nodded. “Does that have anything to do with the drugs that were found with Luke’s name on them the Daily Bugle mentioned?”

“Everything to do with it,” Matt answered, then frowned. “You watch the Daily Bugle?”

Out of all people, Jessica would be the last one Matt would expect to bother listening to J. Jonah Jameson talk.

“Hard not to. That asshole has the whole city subscribed to him after saying he knew who the stupid spider kid was.” She said, eyeing him. “But I guess you know more than me about that.”

“Yeah, you could say that.” He said, shifting in his seat. He needed to change the subject. “So, are you taking the case?”

He knew Jessica would keep a secret if she ever found out about Peter-- and, if he was being honest, she eventually would--, but it wasn’t his secret to tell. And he doubted that Peter would appreciate it if Matt gave away that he was Spider-Man to someone he never met.

Jessica thankfully didn’t push on the subject, and let out a sigh in response to Matt’s question. “Fine. I can take pictures of who comes to visit her and hand them to your partner, or whatever you prefer. You really think she’s involved in all this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Honestly, he didn’t. But Peter was right, it wouldn’t hurt to at least consider it a real possibility. “It’s mostly just precaution for now.”

“Right,” Jessica nodded. “Then there’s the matter of the bill. Just so you know, I’m charging extra for making me come out of retirement.”

If there was one thing Matt learned very quickly about Peter was that the boy was never on time. 

Not that Matt was annoyed by it-- knowing who Peter was, he knew it was more likely that he got held back stopping a robbery, or helping an old lady across the street, whichever came first. Matt did, however, get into a habit of agreeing to meet Peter twenty minutes earlier than he would otherwise. Foggy had suggested it for a meeting once and it worked, so Matt kept doing it whenever there was a time-sensitive situation.

Today, though, the kid managed to exceed even that time. It was almost thirty minutes after the time they agreed to meet that Matt finally heard the familiar  _ thwip _ that indicated that Spider-Man was nearby. 

“Hey!” Peter called, breathlessly, as he landed on the rooftop.

Something was wrong. Peter was limping as he walked towards Matt, his heart seemed like it was ready to beat right out of the boy’s chest.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Matt asked, helping him sit down.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good, just- gimme a sec.” Peter responded, catching his breath. 

Matt crouched next to him, trying to access his other possible injuries. Other than the limping, though, Peter didn’t really seem hurt, but Matt wasn’t too sure about how much of a relief that was. Peter had told him he healed fast, so for all he knew, the limping was only leftover from a much worse injury.

“Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late! I found these guys in the middle of a guns deal. They had, like, these freaky suits on, it was like it absorbed all my hits, it was so weird!” Peter explained, barely pausing to take a breath. Which could be dangerous, considering he was already breathing hard. “They were super strong too! I don’t know if it had something to do with the suit, though.”

“What do you mean?” Matt questioned. 

Peter shook his head. “I don’t know. Some sort of weird tech, I guess. One of them landed a blow, it really hurt!”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m good.” Peter assured him, “I told you, I heal pretty fast. Also, I’ve had much worse, trust me.” 

Matt was ready to argue that the fact the kid had had it worse wasn’t really that comforting, but stopped himself. Peter’s words were almost exactly what Matt would often tell Foggy whenever his friend noticed something was off in the morning and concluded Matt must’ve had a rough night. And Foggy’s response was exactly what Matt almost just thought about telling Peter.

“Anyway, we really gotta find out where those suits came from, it could be a big problem!” Peter continued, Matt figured, mostly to quickly change the subject. “They got away before I could get any information out of them.”

“You’re right.” Matt agreed. “Luckily, finding answers is what we’re here for.”

“Yeah, what  _ are _ we doing here, by the way? You didn’t say anything on the phone.” The boy questioned. 

Matt got up and held out a hand to help Peter do the same. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked again.

“Yeah,” Peter said, testing his weight on the previously injured leg. “Like I said, I’ve had worse before. I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

Matt nodded and walked over to the edge signaling Peter to follow him, which he did. The limping seemed much better, so that was definitely a relief.

The street below them was mostly deserted, except for a couple of open stores, both of which could be described as  _ shady, _ to say the least. Matt pointed at the smaller one on the other side of the street. 

“We’re here to talk to the guy who owns it.” He explained. “I mean, I figured we’d ask about the drugs and the weapons possibly going around with that alien core you found at Harlem’s Paradise. But I suppose we could add those guys in the suits you just ran into to the list.”

Peter perched on the edge, looking down at the shop.

“What, is he like a friend who just gives you information?”

Matt almost laughed. “No. No, definitely not. He’s a criminal. Hates my guts.”

“He’s a criminal?” Peter questioned, sounding confused. “Why aren’t we putting him away, then?”

“He knows everything crime-related that happens in the city. If you need information, he’s your guy. It’s good to keep him around.” Matt replied, “Still, the store is a front for his gun selling business, someone will find it once we’re gone.”

Not that it made much of a difference. Turk would definitely be out again in a couple of days. It’s always how it went, though Matt didn’t have the heart to tell Peter that part. That was likely what happened to a large portion of the criminals he put away, too.

“Okay.” Peter nodded. “How do we do this, then? I’m really not great at the whole interrogation thing, you know. I’m not very… intimidating, in case you never noticed.”

Honestly, Matt could have figured that. It definitely didn’t help that he knew who was behind the Spider-Man mask, and knew that person couldn’t hurt a fly, despite his superpowers. Still, even if he didn’t know that, he doubted it was easy to be intimidated by a kid whose voice was still breaking and liked telling bad jokes whenever he found an opportunity.

“Don’t worry, intimidating him isn’t difficult,” Matt assured him. “Just web him up, and he’ll start talking.”

Peter nodded. “Okay. Web him up, I can do that.”

He didn’t sound as confident as he was trying to come off as, but Matt decided not to comment on it. Still, he doubted it would take much more to get anything out of Turk, so he wasn’t too concerned. Either way, this could be good practice for when Peter would need to interrogate someone on his own.

It wasn’t long before Turk walked out of his shop, carrying two large crates. He stuffed them into the back of his van before turning back to close up the shop. 

Peter didn’t wait for Matt to say anything. The first opportunity he got, he jumped to the building across the street and began to work. 

He slowly climbed down the wall as Turk checked the door to see if everything was in order. For someone who liked talking bad guys’ ears off, Matt had to admit Peter also did really well when he had to be quiet and sneaky. The criminal didn’t even notice Spider-Man until the first web hit him. From there, the element of surprise took care of the rest, and he was tucked in a cocoon dangling from the streetlight above. 

“What the--?!” Turk struggled, looking around for who had done this as Peter jumped from his hiding spot, landing in a crouch in front of the criminal. 

“Hey, man! I don’t think we’ve ever met!” The boy started, in his usual cheery tone. “I’m Spider-Man! I mean, you probably knew that, right? Friendly neighborhood, Avenger, all that?”

For a long moment, Turk seemed at loss for words. Matt couldn’t blame him, the guy was a punching bag to pretty much the whole city-- criminals and vigilantes alike, but being wrapped in webs and confronted by an avenger with a squeaky voice? That had to be weird even by his standards. 

“Wha-- C’mon, man, I don’t got no beef with you or any of those guys!” Turk pleaded. “I don’t know nothing that could help you! You got the wrong guy, just let me go!”

“Oh, I’m not here for the Avengers! Sorry, should’ve cleared that up sooner. I’m here with my buddy, Daredevil!” Peter replied, pointing to the other side of the street where Matt had already found his way down to the street and walked towards them. “We got some questions for you. Street-level stuff, so I’m sure you can answer us no problem.”

Turk’s heart started beating faster when he saw Daredevil approaching, as he desperately started trying to release himself from Peter’s webs. 

“Hello, Turk!” Matt greeted him. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah, and I want it to stay that way!” The criminal responded. “Look, man, I’m clean! I don’t get involved with that shit anymore, go ahead and ask anyone! I can’t tell you shit!”

His voice didn’t waver, which wasn’t a surprise. Matt didn’t think Turk had ever said the truth in his life if he wasn’t under enough pressure. Either way, it didn’t matter. It was his heartbeat that would waver and more accurately tell if the man was telling the truth. 

And he wasn’t. 

“Come on, Turk. We both know that’s not true. All I have to do to prove that is check those crates you were carrying into that van.” Matt said calmly. “I’m assuming those guns are still as shitty as ever.”

Turk didn’t answer. He just continued to wiggle as if it would help him get free. 

“Someone is running heroine all over the city.” Matt started, ignoring him “A kid named Mike Bennett got caught in a crossfire between gangs a few weeks ago and one of them had their car filled with it. They’re calling it ‘Luke Cage’. Sound familiar?”

“Yeah, sounds like that shithead running Harlem!” Turk spat back. “Maybe you should go and ask him!”

“I’m asking  _ you _ . What do you know?”

“I don’t know shit, man!” He said. “Why should I care? Selling drugs in the city ain’t nothing new. I ain’t about that business, you know that! I sell guns! Shitty guns! That’s all I do!”

“Well, the gangs got the guns from somewhere, right?” Peter asked, from his spot perching on top of Turk’s van. “How do we know it wasn’t you?”

“Were you listening? I just said my guns are shit! You can’t kill nobody with them. D here knows, ask him!” Turk replied, jerking his head towards Matt. “Wherever they got their shit from, it wasn’t me!”

“Who was it, then?” Matt continued. 

“Hell if I know! Go ask some other idiot, I can’t help you!”

“Yes, you can.” Matt insisted, “Names, everyone you know in the city they could’ve gotten them from. You might be an idiot, but you keep yourself informed. So, go ahead.”

Turk hesitated as if measuring his options. Matt knew where this was going, he had been over it dozens of times, even more so with Turk. 

Finally, he let out a sigh.

“Look, I don’t know the guy, alright?” He started, “All I know is shit I’ve heard about this guy on the Upper East Side. New in town. He goes by Lee. Dude’s ugly as shit. Big eyes, pointy nose, looks like a fucking owl. You can’t miss him. That’s all I know, I promise!”

Turk’s heartbeat was steady as he spoke, which meant he was telling the truth.

_ Lee _ . It wasn’t much to go off of, but it at least it was something..

“Alright. You know how it goes. I’ll look into and see what I can find out. If it doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll be back.” Matt warned him. “Spider-Man, you had some questions too, right?”

Peter perked up in surprise and jumped back on the ground. 

“Right, yeah. I did.” He approached Turk, who had started to whine about superheroes and vigilantes. 

Now with Turk’s full attention, Peter seemed at loss for what to do for a moment, but he stepped up.

“Alright. So, a few years ago, there was this guy selling weapons,  _ dangerous _ weapons made with alien tech from the Incident. You ever heard of him?” He started. 

Turk sighed. “Sounds familiar. Never met the guy, though. I heard he went to prison and that’s the last I heard of him, I swear!”

Peter nodded. “We’ve found evidence that these weapons are back. Someone used one in Harlem not long ago to try to hurt Luke Cage. Do you know anything about that?”

Turk shrugged-- or, as much as he could being wrapped in web fluid up to his neck. 

“I never saw these weapons myself, and I haven’t been to Harlem in a while, Cage would kill me. Can’t help you there.” Turk responded, then paused, as if he was considering whether he should continue. “Look, what I can say is this: whoever wanted to get Cage with some weird alien shit knew what they were doing. Diamondback made a bullet using it once that could actually do him some damage. He even made a suit so he could handle a one on one fight with him.”

Peter’s heartbeat picked up, and Matt was sure he knew why. A suit that could handle a fight against Luke. Surely it would have to make up to the man’s strength and absorb strong hits, maybe even bullets. It sounded an awful lot like what Peter said he just encountered on the way here.

“Who’s Diamondback?” Peter asked.

“Crime boss. Tried going after Luke a few years back. From what I remember, he made these bullets from alien metal that could hurt Cage. It’s all I know. If you want more info, you’d have to ask Cage yourself. D is friends with him, he could help you there.”

“That suit, what was it like?” Matt asked.

“I don’t know, it had some weird shit going through it. It could deflect bullets, like Cage can. He used it to punch some dude to death once. Made him look like an idiot.” Turk answered.

Peter nodded, and Matt was sure the kid’s mind was going a thousand miles an hour.

“What happened to him? This Diamondback guy, is he dead?” He asked.

“Don’t think so. Luke beat him up and then the cops took him. Word on the street is Cage made sure to put him in the Raft.” Turk replied. “There are rumors, though. Some guys saying he escaped. I don’t know how, and if I try to find him the guy would have me killed, so that’s all I can help with here. Can I go now? I really got somewhere I gotta be, and I can’t be late!”

“Yeah. That’s gonna dissolve in like two hours.” Peter told Turk, shooting up a web and launching himself up to the roof.

“What?! No, come on, man, I got shit to do!”

Matt ignored Turk and followed Peter up to the roof.

Peter was waiting for him.

“What are you thinking about?” Matt asked him. 

Peter considered the question for a moment. “This guy he talked about, it has to be him, right? He had access to alien tech, he apparently had it in for Mr Cage for going after him and making a suit to fight him. Maybe he’s the one behind all of it, even the drugs! O-Or, at least he’s involved in some way!”

“Yeah, that would make a lot of sense. But Turk also said he was sent to the Raft.”

“Yeah, but he also said some people believed he escaped!” Peter argued, “Besides, I-I mean, we don’t know a lot about the Raft, right? MJ said we don’t even hear from the inmates or guards from the second their transfer starts! Someone could’ve gotten to him and helped him escape without anyone knowing about it! Everyone would just think it went according to plan because we don’t hear from the Raft anyway!”

Matt had to admit that Peter had a point, but it still seemed unlikely that anyone would successfully help someone convicted to live out their sentence in the Raft escape very easily, and then also successfully manage to keep it quiet.

“Look, you said Fisk helped the Punisher escape once, without everyone knowing until hours later, right?” Peter continued, “Maybe someone did it to Diamondback too! Someone powerful. Come on, you can’t tell me that’s that unlikely.”

Matt wanted to argue that it  _ was _ that unlikely. Fisk helped Frank Castle escape a maximum-security prison and could only give him a couple of hours head start at best, he didn’t know how better the odds were for someone trying to escape a place even more guarded.

But then again, there really wasn’t much anyone knew about the Raft. And it would definitely cause chaos to tell everyone someone dangerous enough to be sent there had escaped. Matt had barely heard about Diamondback at the time of his arrest, unlike the Punisher case that had been on every single newspaper for weeks. 

It would be a lot easier to push this one under the rug.

“Fine, it isn’t. He’s the best lead we got on that anyway, so it won’t hurt to do some digging.”

Peter nodded, and Matt noticed how close he was to just jump in excitement. 

“Right! So, I look into this Diamondback guy, and you look into the Lee guy?”

“Sounds good.” Matt agreed, “But let me know if you find anything. Don’t go off looking for that guy on your own.”

Peter shrugged. “Sure, if you promise you won’t go after the gun guy on your own, either. We’re on this together, right? So, if either of us finds anything, we let the other know.”

Matt nodded, “Sounds fair.”

“Awesome! Look, I got some homework to do, so I gotta go. See you tomorrow!” The boy said, before jumping off the edge of the roof to swing his way home.

As he got ready to do the same, Matt realized Peter was probably the only person he could promise to keep informed with the intention of keeping it. 

Whether it was something about the story about him losing his uncle, or simply to make sure Peter would also keep his end of the deal and not go after someone dangerous on his own, Matt didn’t know.

But Peter had been through enough, the least Matt could do was help minimize the effects of wherever was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I'm currently reworking on the final chapters for this fic for the umpteenth time right now, because every time I finish writing a new chapter, I figure out a new way to do this or that, or, sometimes, scratch the idea completely in favor of something better. This is my life now, I guess. Don't worry, I'm really having fun with this.
> 
> I also am sure at this point this story will have a part 2. I don't know when it's coming, but it's a sure fact now. And I have a much better idea of what it'll be about, so I'm really excited!
> 
> Anyway, as always, I have no idea when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully soon! In the meantime, please feel free to leave kudos and especially comments, if you have the time. I really appreciate them and they really make my day (I keep saying that in every chapter, but it's true). 
> 
> See you guys soon, hopefully!

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head ever since Far From Home came out, and clearly I wasn't the only one, so here we go!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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